murmuration
AmericanUsage
What does murmuration mean? Murmuration is the act or an instance of murmuring—making a continuous, low, and indistinct sound. Such a sound can be called a murmur. Examples include the sound of water in a stream, the wind through the trees, and the low, muffled sound of a TV in another room. This is the way the word is used in the phrase the murmur of the crowd, which refers to the collective sound of a lot of people talking at once. (In contrast, the roar of the crowd refers to collective cheering and is much louder.) In this case, murmuration could refer to the sound being made or the action of the people making it. Murmur also means to say something in a low tone that can’t be easily understood, especially to complain in such a way, but murmuration isn’t typically used in this sense. Murmuration is also a fanciful name for a flock of starlings (similar to other names for groups of birds and animals, like a murder of crows). Example: The endless murmuration of the creek was as good as a lullaby, soothing me to sleep.
Etymology
Origin of murmuration
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French murmuration, from Latin murmurātiōn-, stem of murmurātiō; murmur, -ation
Explanation
When you speak in a voice so low and soft it can barely be heard, it's a murmuration. A speaker might get distracted if she hears the sound of the audience's murmuration. To talk very quietly is to murmur, and one name for the sound this makes is a murmuration. This word is generally used in novels and poems, often describing something that resembles the sound of people murmuring, like the murmuration of rustling leaves in the trees. Murmuration is also a term of venery — a collective noun for a group of animals. If you see an enormous, swooping flock of starlings in the sky, you can call it a murmuration.
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.
Come to think of it, thoughts are perhaps not unlike a murmuration of starlings, flitting and swooping and morphing with seemingly serendipitous activation.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 29, 2026
This latest video shows winter scenes around the UK, in woodlands, mountains and a murmuration of starlings over the sea.
From BBC • Jan. 9, 2026
LEE VINING, Calif. — Thousands of birds fill the air over Mono Lake, banking and swooping in a swirling murmuration that resembles an aerial school of fish.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 22, 2025
The phenomena, known as murmuration, is when huge groups of starlings come together to swoop and swirl across the sky.
From BBC • Nov. 21, 2023
A murmuration of starlings swirls on the air current.
From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
