voice

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
voice/vɔɪs/

▶noun

• 1 the sound produced in a person's larynx and uttered through the mouth, as speech or song.

  ■ the ability to speak or sing.

  ■ vocal condition for singing or speaking: the soprano is in good voice.

• 2 an opinion or attitude, or a means or agency by which it is expressed: a dissenting voice.

• 3 Music the range of pitch or type of tone with which a person sings, such as soprano or tenor.

  ■ a vocal part in a composition.

  ■ a constituent part in a fugue.

  ■ each of the notes or sounds able to be produced simultaneously by a musical instrument, especially an electronic one.

• 4 Phonetics sound uttered with resonance of the vocal cords (used in the pronunciation of vowels and certain consonants).

• 5 Grammar a form or set of forms of a verb showing the relation of the subject to the action: the passive voice.

▶verb

• 1 express in words.

• 2 (usu. as adj. voiced) Phonetics utter (a speech sound) with resonance of the vocal cords.

• 3 Music regulate the tone quality of (organ pipes).

– derivatives
-voiced adjective,
voiceful adjective (literary),
voicer noun.

– origin ME: from OFr. vois, from L. vox, voc-.