listen

Syllables: lis·ten/ˈlɪsən/

listen verb: to use one's sense of hearing and auditory cognition in an intentional way; to make deliberate use of one's ears; to pay attention to or wait for a specific sound.

Verb

listen (third-person singular simple present listens, present participle listening, simple past and past participle listened)

(intransitive except in archaic usage) To use one's sense of hearing and auditory cognition in an intentional way; to make deliberate use of one's ears; to pay attention to or wait for a specific sound.
- Please listen carefully as I explain.
- I could hear you talking upstairs, but I didn’t really listen to your conversation.
Synonyms:

heed, mind, note, pay attention, attend

Antonyms:

ignore
(intransitive) To accept advice or obey instruction; to agree or assent.
- Listen, the only reason I yelled at you was because I was upset, OK?
- Good children listen to their parents.
Synonyms:

mind

Antonyms:

disregard

Noun

listen (plural listens)

An instance of listening.
- Give the motor a listen and tell me if it sounds off.
- The diss song, “Back to Back,” now has more than 124 million listens, a sign that the streaming can attract a sizable audience for a single track.2016 March 29, Victor Luckerson, “There's a New Way To Listen To All the Remixes You Want”, in Time, archived from the original on 25 Jun 2021
Synonyms:

play

listen meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

listen in Hindi

to pay attention to a sound: सुनना sunnā
to expect or wait for a sound: सुनना sunnā
to hear (something): सुनना sunnā, कान लगाना kān lagānā
to accept advice or obey instruction: सुनना sunnā

listen in Tamil

to pay attention to a sound: கேள் kēḷ
to expect or wait for a sound: மெதுவா கேள் metuvā kēḷ
to hear (something): கேள் kēḷ
to accept advice or obey instruction: கேள் kēḷ

listen in Marathi

to pay attention to a sound: ऐकणे aikṇe
to expect or wait for a sound: ऐकणे aikṇe
to hear (something): ऐकणे aikṇe
to accept advice or obey instruction: ऐकणे aikṇe

listen in Urdu

to pay attention to a sound: سُنْنا sunnā
to expect or wait for a sound: سُنْنا sunnā
to hear (something): سُنْنا sunnā, کان لَگانا kān lagānā
to accept advice or obey instruction: سُنْنا sunnā

More languagesFewer languages

listen in Bengali: শোনা śōna
listen in Telugu: ఆలకించు ālakiñcu, వినుట vinuṭa, విను vinu, సమ్మతించు sammatiñcu
listen in Malayalam: കേൾക്കുക kēḷkkuka
listen in Kannada: ಆಲಿಸು ālisu
listen in Punjabi: سننا suṇnā
listen in Gujarati: સુણવું suṇvũ
listen in Odia: ଶୁଣିବା śuṇibā
listen in Sanskrit: शृणोति śṛṇoti
listen in Sinhala: ඇහුම්කන් දෙනවා æhumkan denawā, අහනවා ahanawā
listen in Assamese: শুনা xuna
listen in Nepali: सुन्नु sunnu
listen in Pashto: غوږ نيول ğwag niwəl, اورول awrawəl
listen in Tagalog: makinig
listen in Arabic: أَصْغَى ʔaṣḡā, أَنْصَتَ ʔanṣata, اِسْتَمَعَ istamaʕa, سَمِعَ samiʕa
listen in Malay: dengar, pasang telinga
listen in Indonesian: dengarkan, mendengarkan
listen in Persian: گوش دادَن guš dâdan, گوش کَرْدَن guš kardan, اِسْتِماع کَرْدَن estemâ' kardan, نِیوشیدَن niyušidan
listen in Thai: ฟัง fang, ยิน yin
listen in Vietnamese: nghe, lắng nghe, chờ đợi, chờ
listen in Myanmar: နားထောင် na:htaung
Kashmiri: بوزُن bōzun

Examples of listen in a sentence

He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:
He reined Wrangle to a walk, halted now and then to listen, and then proceeded cautiously with shifting and alert gaze.1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 4, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
Here laid his Scrip, with wholesome Viands fill'd, / There, listening every Noise, his watchful Dog.a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published...

All 40 example sentences with listen

Synonyms of listen

5 more synonymsFewer synonyms

harken
lend an ear
listen close
hark
list

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of listen

Forms of listen

Verb
third-person singular present	listens
present participle	listening
past participle	listened
past	listened
alternative form (obsolete)	lisen
alternative pronunciation-spelling (rare)	lis'en
alternative pronunciation-spelling (rare)	lissen
Noun
plural	listens

Past tense of listen: listened

Origin of listen

From Middle English listenen, listnen, alteration (due to Middle English listen (“to listen, give heed to”)) of Old English hlysnan (“to listen”), from Proto-Germanic *hlusnijaną, *hlusnōną (compare Middle High German lüsenen), from Proto-Germanic *hlusēną (compare Old High German hlosēn), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“to hear”). Cognate with Swedish lyssna (“to listen”). Compare Ancient Greek κλαίω (klaíō, “to make known, famous”), Welsh clywed (“to hear”), Latin clueō (“to be famous”), Lithuanian klausýti, Old Church Slavonic слушати (slušati, “to hear”), Sanskrit श्रोषति (śróṣati, “an exclamation used in making an offering with fire to the gods or departed spirits”) & Sanskrit श्लोक्य (ślókya, “voice, sound, noisy”)). Related to loud and German lauschen.

Phrases with listen

Words that rhyme with listen

Questions about listen

What does listen mean?: Listen means to use one's sense of hearing and auditory cognition in an intentional way; to make deliberate use of one's ears; to pay attention to or wait for a specific sound.
What is listen in Hindi?: Listen in Hindi is सुनना (sunnā), कान लगाना (kān lagānā). See Listen meaning in Hindi.
How do you use listen in a sentence?: He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.
What part of speech is listen?: Listen can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce listen?: Listen is pronounced /ˈlɪsən/.
What is the past tense of listen?: The past tense of listen is listened.

Words near listen in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: listen (page history and authors); سننا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); સુણવું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); सुन्नु (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-to listen.ogg, en-us-listen.ogg, en-au-listen.ogg.

Cite this entry: “listen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/listen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.