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Jun 15, 2026
This week’s theme
Unusual synonyms

This week’s words
susurration

susurration
Artist unknown
Image: Wikimedia

Previous week’s theme
There’s a word for it

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

Don’t wear the same color two days in a row. Don’t repeat the same word in a paragraph. Never walk out of a bookstore with fewer than three books.

Life is full of unwritten rules like these, probably invented by the fashion cartel, the thesaurus lobby, and Big Publishing. We can’t help with everything, but we’re here to provide word aid.

This week we’ll feature unusual synonyms of everyday words. Add them to your wordstock. You never know when one might come in handy.

And next week we’ll serve synonyms of this week’s synonyms. Because why not? One can never have too many words, too many books, or too many excuses to crack open the unabridged dictionary just for a minute.

susurration

PRONUNCIATION:
(soo-suh-RAY-shuhn)

MEANING:
noun: A soft, low sound, such as a rustling, whispering, or murmuring.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin susurrare (to whisper or hum), from susurrus (a murmur or whisper), of imitative origin. Earliest documented use: before 1425.

NOTES:
NOTES: A synonym is susurrus. The verb form is susurrate and adjective is susurrant.

USAGE:
“Kodo’s rich sound-world ranges from woodland susurrations to a thundering which makes you feel as if you’ve been struck in the chest.”
The Kudos of Kodo; The Economist (London, UK); Jan 6, 2018.

See more usage examples of susurration in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
To a father growing old, nothing is dearer than a daughter. -Euripides, playwright (c. 480-406 BCE)

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