Meaning & use
hearing
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
The ability to notice sounds with your ears.
Grammar: Used without 'a' when talking about the sense in general: Her hearing is poor.
Patterns
- good hearing
- poor hearing
- hearing loss
His hearing has gotten worse with age.
The explosion damaged her hearing permanently.
Dogs have much better hearing than humans.
nouncountablelegal
An official meeting where evidence or arguments are presented before a decision is made.
Grammar: Often used with 'a' or 'the': a court hearing, the hearing was postponed.
Patterns
- a court hearing
- hold a hearing
- at a hearing
The judge scheduled a hearing for next month.
The committee held a public hearing on the new law.
She testified at the hearing about the accident.
nouncountable
An opportunity to explain or defend yourself to a person or group in authority.
Grammar: Often in the phrase 'a fair hearing': The boss gave me a fair hearing.
Patterns
- a fair hearing
- give someone a hearing
- get a hearing
The manager gave him a fair hearing before deciding.
The students asked for a hearing from the principal.
Without a hearing, the decision felt unfair.
Word forms
| plural | hearings |
|---|
Common combinations
- hearing loss
- Loud music can cause permanent hearing loss.
- court hearing
- The court hearing was delayed until Friday.
- public hearing
- Residents spoke at the public hearing about the new road.
- fair hearing
- Everyone deserves a fair hearing before being judged.
- sense of hearing
- Bats rely on their sense of hearing to hunt.
Synonyms and how they differ
- audition
- Audition is a formal or technical term for the sense of hearing; it is rare in everyday speech.
- trial
- Trial is a more general legal proceeding; a hearing is usually a preliminary or specific session, not a full trial.
Opposites
Word family
- hear verb
- To notice sounds with your ears.
- hearing aid noun
- A small device that helps people with hearing loss.
- hard of hearing adjective
- Having some degree of hearing loss.
Commonly confused: hearing or listening?
hearing vs listening
Listening is the active process of paying attention to sounds, while hearing is the passive ability to perceive them.
Practice
The judge set a date for the ___ to review the evidence.
Choose one answer.
A hearing is a formal legal meeting. Listening is the act of paying attention; audition is a trial performance; hearsay is secondhand information.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hearing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.