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

And he had the heavy fricative greeting sound.

From Missing Link by Herbert, Frank Patrick

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