as in shrill
having a high musical pitch or range
the whistling sound of missiles as they sped toward their targets
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whistling
Adjective
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On shrill winter nights, Moscow’s power is conspicuous, its Orthodox cathedrals and Stalinist high-rises illuminated, though the view falls dim in the autumn and spring, shrouded in sheets of greige.
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The chaos is still an acceptable price to pay for Birney’s expertly offputting performance, a shrill mania that gets increasingly comic over time.
Verb
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Double-bass glissandos hint at hands grubbing in the earth, while abrupt moments of concerted action—notably, an accordion wheezing out an F-sharp-minor chord—suggest flickering signals and transmissions.
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Since October, her youngest, now 7, has been coughing and wheezing a lot, especially at night.
Verb
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Then a hissing arrow pins a golden soccer ball to the Clash of Clans escutcheon.
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There’s plenty of feline choreography, like crawling, meowing, and hissing.
Verb
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Windows frame mountain views, opening onto terraces that overlook skiers whooshing down the slopes.
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The motionless people drooling on the sidewalk, the Waymos whooshing around with no one inside.
Verb
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Dollop whipped cream over panna cotta and spread, swooshing decoratively as desired.
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Somehow, two sequels have materialized to update the swooshing neon visuals and cartoony renditions of a virtual world.
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Cite this Entry
“Whistling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whistling. Accessed 1 Jul. 2026.
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