Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

throat-clearing

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.85 in modern English

Syllables: throat--clear-ing
IPA

20

Scrabble Score

14

Letters

4

Syllables

11

Unique Chars

Meaning

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.

noun

A performative or formal preamble before a statement.

verb

Alternative form of clearing one's throat

Example Sentences

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

Inflected Forms

present participle and gerund of clearing one's throat (canonical)

Questions

What does throat-clearing mean?: 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.

How to pronounce throat-clearing

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “throat-clearing”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “throat-clearing”.
Repeat and practice — Say “throat-clearing” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.