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
Examples: As her
husband headed into the kitchen, our hostess
began telling us sotto voce about the upcoming surprise party for him.
"Former Virginia
governor Robert F. McDonnell had just explained, with a heart-breaking letter
and a sotto voce delivery, that his marriage was in shambles." — Laura
Vozzella, Matt Zapotosky, and Rosalind S.
Helderman, The Washington Post, August 23, 2014
Did you know? It’s no
secret: in our first example sentence, sotto voce functions as an adverb,
modifying the verb tell. But sotto voce, which was borrowed into English from
the Italian word sottovoce (literally meaning "under the voice"), can
also serve as an adjective. That’s the role it plays in our second example
sentence. The adverb sense first appeared in English in the 18th century and
soon afterward found use in musical directions calling for whispered vocals.
The adjective sense came about in the early 19th
century.
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