Word.ws English Dictionary

murmuring

murmuring is the present participle and gerund of murmur.

Noun

murmuring (countable and uncountable, plural murmurings)

  1. A sound that murmurs.
    • the murmurings of trees in the wind
  2. A complaint against something.
    • Do all things without murmurings and disputings.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Philippians 2:14
    • When Mrs. Churchill's orders were made known, they caused many secret marvellings and murmurings.1796, Maria Edgeworth, The Parent's Assistant

Meaning of murmur

Verb

murmur (third-person singular simple present murmurs, present participle murmuring, simple past and past participle murmured)

  1. (archaic, intransitive) To grumble; to complain in a low, muttering voice, or express discontent at or against someone or something.
    • The Iewes then murmured at him because he sayde: I am that breed which is come doune from heaven.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, John vj:[41]
  2. (intransitive) To speak or make low, indistinguishable noise; to mumble, mutter.
    • I couldn't hear the words; he just murmured a lot.
  3. (transitive) To say (something) indistinctly, to mutter.
    • I […] heard thee murmur tales of iron wars;c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...

See all 7 meanings of murmur

Forms of murmuring

pluralmurmurings

Questions about murmuring

What does murmuring mean?
Murmuring means a sound that murmurs.
What is murmuring the present participle and gerund of?
Murmuring is the present participle and gerund of murmur.
What part of speech is murmuring?
Murmuring is a noun.
What is the plural of murmuring?
The plural of murmuring is murmurings.

Words near murmuring in the dictionary

  1. murmured
  2. murmurer
  3. murmurers
  4. murmurest
  5. murmureth
  6. murmuring
  7. murmuringly
  8. murmurings
  9. murmurish
  10. murmurless
  11. murmurlessly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: murmuring (page history and authors); murmur (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.

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