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Subject:sotto voce: M-W's Word of the Day
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Date:Wed, 9 Jan 2002 02:00:01 -0800 (PST)

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The Word of the Day for January 10 is:

sotto voce \sah-toh-VOH-chee\ (adverb or adjective)
1 : under the breath : in an undertone; also : in a
private manner
*2 : very softly -- used as a direction in music

Example sentence:
At the beginning of the piece, Jessel sang sotto voce,
which made his loud, powerful ending all the more dramatic.

Did you know?
It's no secret: in our example sentence, "sotto voce"
functions as an adverb, modifying the past-tense verb "sang."
But "sotto voce," which was borrowed into English from the
Italian term "sottovoce" (literally meaning "under the voice"),
can also serve as an adjective. That's the role it plays in
the following sentence: "Nora told Casey about the party in a
sotto voce whisper."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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