fricative

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Gibson pauses before the last word to let a slow fricative sound emanate from his lips — fff — like air escaping from a punctured tire, or a man suppressing a naughty word.

From Washington Post • Nov. 3, 2016

That’s the voiceless velar fricative, and it adds a wonderful percussiveness to “99 Luftbalons.”

From Slate • Nov. 8, 2012

Clinton made it through the speech, but just barely, his voice catching on every fricative by the end.

From Time Magazine Archive

Spirant, spī′rant, n. a consonant which is fricative or continuable—opp. to explosive, esp. v and f, th, dh; by others made to include the sibilants, and the semi-vowels w and y.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

In the South palatal c became a fricative ch.

From Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch by Flom, George Tobias