mumble
mumble — verb
1. to say something so quietly or with so little lip movement that people cannot he
to say something so quietly or with so little lip movement that people cannot hear or understand the words
Amira always mumbles when she is tired, so her classmates ask her to repeat herself.
intransitive — mumble when tired
The boy mumbled an apology to his teacher after knocking over her coffee.
transitive: mumble + apology
Karim mumbled something about the train delay, but no one caught the details.
Stop mumbling and speak up — the audience cannot hear your questions.
The witness mumbled her name so quietly that the judge asked her to repeat it.
- mutter
more focused on low, grumbling speech that shows annoyance or dissatisfaction — mutter often has an emotional tone
- murmur
softer but not necessarily unclear — murmur can be gentle and pleasant, whereas mumble always sounds muffled
- slur
involves running words together unclearly, often due to alcohol, tiredness, or a speech impediment — mumble is about low volume and closed lips
- enunciate
to pronounce each word clearly and distinctly, the opposite of mumbling
- articulate
to speak in a clear, well-structured way
文法句型
mumble + noun phrase (transitive)
mumble (no object, intransitive)
mumble + about + noun phrase
用法筆記
Frequently used in conversation to describe speech that is unclear because the speaker's mouth is barely open. Unlike whisper, mumbling is not a deliberate choice to be quiet — it usually happens because the speaker is shy, tired, embarrassed, or not paying attention to how they are speaking.