1
: a half-suppressed or muttered complaint : grumbling
murmurs of disapproval
2
a
: a low indistinct but often continuous sound
a murmur of voices
the murmur of the waves along the shore
b
: a soft or gentle utterance
the murmur of nannies cooing into baby carriages—
Nancy Gibbs
Nancy Gibbs3
: an atypical sound of the heart typically indicating a functional or structural abnormality
The physician detected a heart murmur in his patient.
murmured; murmuring; murmurs
: to say in a murmur
murmurer
noun
Synonyms
Examples of murmur in a Sentence
Noun
the murmur of the crowd
The suggestion brought murmurs of disapproval.
He spoke in a murmur.
They spoke to each other in murmurs.
the murmur of the waves along the shore
Verb
He murmured something about having to get home.
“Thank you,” she murmured as she left the room.
The breeze murmured in the pines.
Recent Examples on the WebJeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 21 Apr. 2024
These murmurs take place at a frequency beyond our own hearing range as humans – and, importantly, out of those of their predators, namely the leopard.
—Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 11 Apr. 2024
The morning earthquake was felt in a meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York, where cameras shook and proceedings paused as a murmur went through the room.
—Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2024
The border collie, who was 15 at the time, had developed epilepsy in recent years and had recently been diagnosed with a mild heart murmur.
—Susan Young, Peoplemag, 17 Apr. 2024
The physical will measure things like blood pressure and pulse and listen for heart murmurs.
—Amanda Sealy, CNN, 7 Apr. 2024
With the throttle down, the Tiara eases onto plane in around seven seconds, with hardly a murmur from the outboards behind.
—Howard Walker, Robb Report, 18 Jan. 2024
The attacks on minorities, the suppression of the press, and the arrest of civil rights activists have attracted scarcely a murmur of disapproval from the State Department or the White House.
—Ramachandra Guha, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024
EVs generally lack sound, beyond the low murmur most emit at low speeds for regulatory reasons.
—Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN, 5 Mar. 2024
Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 20 Jan. 2024
The sellout crowd at Spectrum Center was murmuring and nervous.
—Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 24 Mar. 2024
Talk of rebooting The Office in some capacity has been murmured about and workshopped for years, with a fresh series focusing on a new cast so far never making it out of development.
—Kevin Dolak, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Feb. 2024
At the studio, many musicians were murmuring about why Prince wasn't there.
—Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 20 Jan. 2024
In the final, the dominant ALW/Parenteau team, who have yet to lose playing together, crushed Dizon & Wright 11-3 in game one and had the crowd murmuring about a fast final.
—Todd Boss, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024
Looking at Hancock’s body, Moss surprised himself by murmuring a spontaneous prayer, which came out involuntarily, like a sneeze.
—Emma Goldberg Desiree Rios, New York Times, 21 Jan. 2024
But the feeling was mutual, as Jelly Roll later murmured, if only to himself, about the surrealness of the moment.
—Nekesa Mumbi Moody, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Feb. 2024
As people began to murmur that ChatGPT could replace web searches, Google jumped into action in January 2023, hoping to counter this apparent threat to its search dominance.
—Benj Edwards, Ars Technica, 18 Dec. 2023
Noun
Kanye’s remix, as of now, has yet to hit streaming platforms and there are murmurs online of a version also featuring Pusha T. All of which suggests rap’s ongoing civil war won’t be concluding any time soon.
—Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 21 Apr. 2024
These murmurs take place at a frequency beyond our own hearing range as humans – and, importantly, out of those of their predators, namely the leopard.
—Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 11 Apr. 2024
The morning earthquake was felt in a meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York, where cameras shook and proceedings paused as a murmur went through the room.
—Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2024
The border collie, who was 15 at the time, had developed epilepsy in recent years and had recently been diagnosed with a mild heart murmur.
—Susan Young, Peoplemag, 17 Apr. 2024
The physical will measure things like blood pressure and pulse and listen for heart murmurs.
—Amanda Sealy, CNN, 7 Apr. 2024
With the throttle down, the Tiara eases onto plane in around seven seconds, with hardly a murmur from the outboards behind.
—Howard Walker, Robb Report, 18 Jan. 2024
The attacks on minorities, the suppression of the press, and the arrest of civil rights activists have attracted scarcely a murmur of disapproval from the State Department or the White House.
—Ramachandra Guha, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024
EVs generally lack sound, beyond the low murmur most emit at low speeds for regulatory reasons.
—Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN, 5 Mar. 2024
Verb
At the studio, many musicians were murmuring about why Prince wasn’t there.
—Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 20 Jan. 2024
The sellout crowd at Spectrum Center was murmuring and nervous.
—Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 24 Mar. 2024
Talk of rebooting The Office in some capacity has been murmured about and workshopped for years, with a fresh series focusing on a new cast so far never making it out of development.
—Kevin Dolak, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Feb. 2024
At the studio, many musicians were murmuring about why Prince wasn't there.
—Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 20 Jan. 2024
In the final, the dominant ALW/Parenteau team, who have yet to lose playing together, crushed Dizon & Wright 11-3 in game one and had the crowd murmuring about a fast final.
—Todd Boss, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024
Looking at Hancock’s body, Moss surprised himself by murmuring a spontaneous prayer, which came out involuntarily, like a sneeze.
—Emma Goldberg Desiree Rios, New York Times, 21 Jan. 2024
But the feeling was mutual, as Jelly Roll later murmured, if only to himself, about the surrealness of the moment.
—Nekesa Mumbi Moody, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Feb. 2024
As people began to murmur that ChatGPT could replace web searches, Google jumped into action in January 2023, hoping to counter this apparent threat to its search dominance.
—Benj Edwards, Ars Technica, 18 Dec. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'murmur.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near murmur
Cite this Entry
“Murmur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/murmur. Accessed 3 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
murmur
2 of 2 verb1
: to make a murmur
the breeze murmured in the pines
2
: to say in a voice too low to be heard clearly
murmurer
noun
Medical Definition
murmur
noun
mur·mur
ˈmər-mər 
: an atypical sound of the heart typically indicating a functional or structural abnormality
called also heart murmur
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