throat-clearing

noun

A forcible, sometimes muted, expulsion of air from one's lungs, sometimes to clear mucus, sometimes to attract attention to something; less vigorous than a cough.

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Meanings

noun
  1. A forcible, sometimes muted, expulsion of air from one's lungs, sometimes to clear mucus, sometimes to attract attention to something; less vigorous than a cough.

    Colds, with their subsequent sneezing, coughing, hemming, nose-blowing, and throat-clearing, begin to be the order of the day, with the ushering in of cold and damp November days.

    1887, James Thomas Casefirst2=John Harvey, Kellogg, Health Reformer: Volume 22, page 327
  2. idiomaticA performative or formal preamble before a statement.

    This is a comic poem—an exercise in throat-clearing, or a cranking up of the speech organs: […]

    1970, The University of Michigan, Research in African Literatures: Volume 32
    1 more example

    A quick review of existing national-state preambles […] quickly reveals a formulaic sameness in what one could call preamble language […] little more than a bit of performative throat-clearing in preparation for the serious work of the articles in the body of the constitution itself.

    2009, Max Pensky, The Ends of Solidarity: Discourse Theory in Ethics and Politics, page 130
verb
  1. alternativeAlternative form of clearing one's throat
Cite this entry
APA

throat-clearing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/throat-clearing

MLA

“throat-clearing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/throat-clearing. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “throat-clearing,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/throat-clearing.

Source: throat-clearing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.