listen
[verb]
Synonyms:
- hear, attend, lend an ear, prick up one's ears
- pay attention, heed, mind, obey, observe, take notice

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Related Idioms: give a hearing to, give ear to, hang upon the lips (or words) of, keep one's ears open, lend one's (or an) ear, prick up one's ears, strain one's ears

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English Thesaurus: hear, listen, make out, overhear, catch, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. lis‧ten¹ S1 W1 /ˈlɪsən/ verb [intransitive]
[Language: Old English; Origin: hlysnan]

1. to pay attention to what someone is saying or to a sound that you can hear:
Listen! There’s a strange noise in the engine.
listen to
We sat around listening to music.
listen carefully/intently/hard etc
The whole class was listening attentively.
Liz stood still and listened hard (=very carefully).
► Listen is never followed directly by a noun. Use to and then a noun or a clause: Listen to what I say (NOT Listen what I say).

2. spoken used to tell someone to pay attention to what you are going to say:
Listen, I want you to come with me.

3. to consider what someone says and accept their advice:
I told him not to go, but he just wouldn’t listen.
listen to
I wish I’d listened to Dad.
She refused to listen to reason (=accept sensible advice).

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. listen² noun
a listen British English informal an act of listening:
Have a listen to this new album!

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

listen
verb
ADV. attentively, carefully, closely, hard, intently Now, listen very carefully to what she says.
half Lucy was only half listening to their conversation.
patiently, politely, sympathetically We listened politely to his stories.
avidly, eagerly, with interest The guests were listening with great interest.
gravely, impassively Pym listened impassively until the woman had finished.
in silence, quietly They listened to the announcement in silence.
anxiously | in awe
VERB + LISTEN (not) want to, will/would (not) Nobody will listen to me! I tried to warn her, but she wouldn't listen.
be prepared to, be willing to | refuse to He refused to listen to her explanation.
PREP. for We listened anxiously for the sound of footsteps.
to listening to the radio
PHRASES listen with half an ear I listened with half an ear to the conversation at the next table.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

listen
verb
BAD: My mother never listens what I say.
GOOD: My mother never listens to what I say.
BAD: He invited me to listen his new CD.
GOOD: He invited me to listen to his new CD.

Usage Note:
listen to sb/sth : 'You are listening to the BBC World Service.'

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

hear to know that a sound is being made, using your ears:
There’s no need to shout – I can hear you!
Voices could be heard in the distance.
listen to pay attention to something, using your ears:
I was listening to the news on the car radio.
He never listens to anything I say.
make out to hear something with difficulty:
When I got closer, I could make out a human voice.
I could just make out what he was saying.
overhear to accidentally hear another person’s conversation:
I overheard her say to her friend that she had lost something.
catch to hear something that someone says:
Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.
I caught the last few minutes of the programme.
tune in to listen to a programme – often used in announcements on the radio:
Tune in for all the latest news and views from around the world.
Thousands of people tune in to the show every week.
audible adjective loud enough to be heard:
Her words were clearly audible.
an audible whisper

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

listen to pay attention to what someone is saying or to a sound that you hear:
I didn’t hear the answer, because I wasn’t listening when she read it out.
He listened carefully to every word I said.
pay attention to listen carefully to what someone is saying:
I nodded to show I was paying attention.
She was tired and wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying.
eavesdrop to secretly listen to someone else’s conversation by standing near them, hiding behind a door etc:
I caught him eavesdropping on our conversation.
They spoke in quiet voices which made it hard to eavesdrop.
overhear to hear someone say something, especially accidentally:
I overheard him say something about wanting to move house.
Excuse me! I couldn’t help overhearing that you were planning a trip to Thailand.
tune in (to something) to listen to a radio programme, or to someone using a radio transmitter:
Over a million people tune in to the programme each week.
Tune in at the same time next week for the next episode.
The equipment could be used by criminals to tune in to police broadcasts.
tap to connect a piece of electronic recording equipment to a telephone system so that you can listen to people’s telephone conversations:
The police had tapped the phones of all three suspects.
The President had to resign over an illegal phone-tapping operation.
bug to hide a small piece of electronic recording equipment in someone’s room, car, office etc in order to listen secretly to what is said there:
Security agents bugged their offices and managed to get some evidence against them.
Wells was convinced the house was bugged and insisted on playing loud music while we talked.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲