Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A soft murmuring or humming sound; a whisper; a murmur.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of whispering; a whisper; a murmur.

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

  • noun literary A whispering or rustling sound; a murmur.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the indistinct sound of people whispering

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Onomatopoeic; from Latin susurrus ("a humming, whispering"); likely from an older echoic word.

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Examples

  • But the words go out to the open space ahead of her, where pop music drifting from hidden speakers meets the susurrus from the fountain below, so she can’t tell if he heard.

    ALICE AFTER THE MALL • by John Jasper Owens 2009

  • Netflix heading to other, non-Xbox 360 game consoles before, and now adding to the susurrus is a job listing from the company for

    Original Signal - Transmitting Gadgets 2009

  • Rattling against each other for all time in a susurrus of dry bone.

    Valentines, part the first mllelaurel 2009

  • Manara was a mixed neighborhood, not particularly Shiite, or even exclusively Muslim, but when Nasrallah made his dramatic announcement, we could hear a susurrus of cheers and clapping from nearby apartments.

    Day of Honey Annia Ciezadlo 2011

  • Manara was a mixed neighborhood, not particularly Shiite, or even exclusively Muslim, but when Nasrallah made his dramatic announcement, we could hear a susurrus of cheers and clapping from nearby apartments.

    Day of Honey Annia Ciezadlo 2011

  • There's no sound on the five second download below, so just imagine the gentle susurrus of falling snow delicately counterpointed by Gwenda saying You better not be recording me!

    Tells a story, don't it? 2008

  • He slowed his breathing right down, until he could hear the susurrus of the wind in the trees, and the song of a faraway bird.

    Blood Ninja II Nick Lake 2010

  • He slowed his breathing right down, until he could hear the susurrus of the wind in the trees, and the song of a faraway bird.

    Blood Ninja II Nick Lake 2010

  • Vaguely she heard the susurrus of voices surrounding her, but she was completely focused on the unconscious man.

    Black Magic Cherry Adair 2010

  • Vaguely she heard the susurrus of voices surrounding her, but she was completely focused on the unconscious man.

    Black Magic Cherry Adair 2010

Comments

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  • a palindrome " susurrus us" whispering together perhaps????

    March 22, 2008

  • "Gentle winds had lulled the swell and the continual susurrus of the south wind enticed them towards the deep."

    --Virgil, The Aeneid

    I like "white noise", and the susurrus of a white noise CD I have often entices me towards the deep -- deep sleep, that is.

    December 8, 2008

  • "Presently our faithful blackbird will try out a splash of liquid notes in the dimmened and newly oppressive air, and then will come the first susurrus of rain, like the sound of a blind man's fingers reading braille."

    -John Banville, The Infinities

    March 26, 2010

  • "And the cicadas were chanting, and the willows were straggling their tresses in the water, and the cottonwood and the ash were making that late summer hush, that susurrus."

    -- Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

    June 23, 2012