listen
listen Lexical Profile
listen Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To give one's conscious attention to a sound or speaker.
"The students sat quietly to listen to the visiting professor's lecture."
To take notice of and act upon someone's advice, request, or warning.
"If you had listened to your doctor's recommendations, your recovery would have been much faster."
To make an effort to hear something; to remain alert for a specific sound.
"They stood on the porch and listened for the sound of approaching footsteps."
• noun
An act of paying attention to a sound, recording, or broadcast.
"The producer gave the new demo track a careful listen before signing the band."
Word Nuance & Usage
Unlike 'hear', which refers to the passive physiological perception of sound, 'listen' implies deliberate, conscious attention to sound and typically requires the preposition 'to' before a direct object.
• Rhymes for listen
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English 'hlysnan' (to listen, pay attention to), derived from Proto-Germanic '*hlusnōną' and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root '*ḱlew-' (to hear), making it a cognate of 'loud' and 'client'.