Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In a vocal or similar sound, the state, quality, or effect resulting from an escape of unvocalized air with the sound proper, as in clumsy vocalization, apprehension or terror, whispering, etc.: sometimes equivalent to wheeziness, which, however, is usually applied to mechanical sounds, as to a poor organ tone.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state or quality of being breathy.
  • noun The result or product of being breathy.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From breathy +‎ -ness.

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Examples

  • Her breathiness was a rumble amplified by the sound equipment.

    Cradle and All Patterson, James, 1947- 2000

  • Her breathiness was a rumble amplified by the sound equipment.

    Cradle and All Patterson, James, 1947- 2000

  • Her breathiness was a rumble amplified by the sound equipment.

    Cradle and All Patterson, James, 1947- 2000

  • I don't mind the music and the softer beats, but her vocals seem to be lifeless and she could cut out a little of the "breathiness".

    Home Theater Forum 2010

  • I don't mind the music and the softer beats, but her vocals seem to be lifeless and she could cut out a little of the "breathiness".

    Home Theater Forum 2010

  • She doesn't like the "breathiness" of her delivery.

    News & Observer: Home Page 2009

  • “There are a range of other features such as hoarseness, roughness, breathiness of the voice, which have to do with the airflow over the vocal chords, and these all combine to make our voices distinctive.”

    Woman Unable To Recognise Voices Gives New Insights Into The Human Brain | Impact Lab 2010

  • She said in a Marilyn Monroe-like breathiness,“They say fifty is the new forty.”

    That's How It Went (rev) Martin Dodd 2011

  • What would thereby be gained through such an alliterative onomatopoeia (in echo of the opening line's triplicate breathiness) would at the same time have to tally its losses in forfeiting the feathery overtone of "windy" in the given line's "wind, if."

    Phonemanography: Romantic to Victorian 2008

  • The voice's tools are inflection, speed, volume, breathiness, rhythm, and a bunch of stuff I've forgotten.

    Thanks everyone joshenglish 2008

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