What does "devoice" mean?

To pronounce a sound with little or no vibration of the vocal cords, especially a sound that is normally pronounced with such vibration (i.e. a voiced sound).

Devoice

//ˌdiːˈvɔɪs// verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1
To pronounce a sound with little or no vibration of the vocal cords, especially a sound that is normally pronounced with such vibration (i.e. a voiced sound). transitive
"Lastly, as shown in the consonant table above, h- causes any following consonant to be devoiced[.]"
2
utter with tense vocal chords wordnet
3
To remove the voice flag from a user on IRC, preventing them from sending messages to the channel. Internet, transitive

Antonyms

All antonyms

voice

Example

More examples

"Lastly, as shown in the consonant table above, h- causes any following consonant to be devoiced[.]"

Etymology

From de- + voice.

Related phrases

vocal cord

More for "devoice"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.