hissing 1 of 2

hissing

2 of 2

verb

present participle of hiss
as in bubbling
to make a sound like that of stretching out the speech sound \s\ the frightened kitten hissed at us when we tried to pick it up

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hissing
Verb
  • One perk is that the bubbling stream provides the ideal ecosystem where hemlock and rhododendron thrive along the banks.
    Jennifer Prince, Southern Living, 29 Dec. 2024
  • There was understandable tension in the quarter-final against Bayern Munich, but something was bubbling from minute one against Porto.
    Art de Roché, The Athletic, 29 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • While there's no room for friendship between the whistles, the connection stands strong before and after the game.
    Joe Kozlowski, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 June 2025
  • But whatever happened to Gaddis, who blew the whistle?
    Orlando Sentinel, The Orlando Sentinel, 20 June 2025
Noun
  • His voice—typically pitched between a bellow and a sneer—was instantly recognizable to the couple that night.
    Air Mail, Air Mail, 3 May 2025
  • In a movie climate where remakes tend to draw sneers of derision and claims that people have just gotten too lazy to invent anything new, Disney’s remakes of its own products are always a chief target.
    Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 21 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • But watching a group of roughnecks on a rig in grubby overalls moving huge, long steel pipes, Dugan's smile begins to fade to a smirk.
    Kirk Siegler, NPR, 24 Apr. 2025
  • Modern thinkers stopped using these concepts altogether except in quotation marks, with a wink, a smirk, and a glance backward toward the unscientific past.
    Isaac Bashevis Singer, Harpers Magazine, 26 Mar. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Hissing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hissing. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.

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