Meanings
plural sibilances
- countableuncountableThe quality of being sibilant: a hissing quality.
Work to control the sibilance of your s sounds.
2009, Jean Ann Wright, M. J. Lallo, Voice-Over for Animation, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 284 more examples
The Pet Shop Boys are yet another synth-pop duo, albeit one that is not quite out of the closet. […] In past interviews, however, they [the Pet Shop Boys] have referred to their sound as "specifically gay disco," and their lyrics have that certain queenly something that lead singer Neil Tennant sings with an adorable sibilance.
1990 December 23, Christopher Wittke, “Pop Goes 1990”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 23, page 9The following exercises help combat sibilance, plosives, lazy tongue, and mouth problems.
2000, Elaine A. Clark, There's Money Where Your Mouth Is: An Insider's Guide to a Career in Voice-Overs, Second Edition, Back Stage Books, →ISBN, page 24A string of words beginning with ‘s’ will cause sibilance.
2006, Barbara Alysen, Electronic Reporter: Broadcast Journalism in Australia, Second Edition, University of New south Wales Press, →ISBN, page 118Most often sending the vocal through a de-esser will either eliminate the sibilance or greatly reduce its sound.
2012, Michael Zager, Music Production: For Producers, Composers, Arrangers, and Students, Second Edition, Scarecrow Press, →ISBN, page 277
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
sibilance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sibilance
“sibilance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sibilance. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sibilance,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sibilance.
Source: sibilance on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.