undervoicing

Verb

undervoice (third-person singular simple present undervoices, present participle undervoicing, simple past and past participle undervoiced)

1. (transitive) To voice too weakly.
   • Consequently, the danger for Dutch learners of English is undervoicing the English lenis fricatives rather than the reverse.1984, Beverley Collins, Inger Margrethe Mees, The Sounds of English and Dutch, page 51
2. (transitive) To make a quieter or background sound beneath.
   • Undervoicing the flame, there was the popping of hollow weed stalks, the tinkle of woody stems crisping and falling in coals.1902, Martha McCulloch-Williams, Next to the Ground: Chronicles of a Countryside, page 74

See all 3 meanings of undervoice