listened

Meanings

1. 1verbintransitive

   paid attention to a sound or to what someone was saying.

   Grammar: No direct object; use "to" before the thing you hear: listened to music.

   Patterns

   • listened to someone
   • listened to something
   • listened for a sound
   • listened carefully

   She listened to the whole story without interrupting.

   We listened carefully, but the room was completely silent.

   He listened to the radio while he cooked dinner.

2. 2verbintransitive

   followed someone's advice or did what they asked.

   Grammar: Often used with "to": listened to her parents.

   Patterns

   • listened to someone
   • listened to advice

   In the end, he listened to his doctor and rested for a week.

   They never listened to our warnings, and the plan failed.

Word forms

Common combinations

listen to music

I listen to music on the train every morning.

listen carefully

Please listen carefully to the instructions.

listen for a sound

She listened for the sound of the key in the door.

listen to reason

He was too angry to listen to reason.

listen in on a conversation

They listened in on the meeting from the next room.

Synonyms and how they differ

hear

"Hear" means a sound reaches your ears, often without effort, while "listen" means you deliberately pay attention.

pay attention

This is a more general phrase; it can mean watching or reading closely, not only paying attention to sound.

Opposites

Word family

listener noun

a person who listens, especially to a radio show or podcast.

listening noun

the act of paying attention to sounds or speech.

Commonly confused: listened or listen?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “listened”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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