/ nɔɪz; NAmE / noun
1.
[ C , U ] a sound, especially when it is loud, unpleasant or disturbing :
a rattling noise
What's that noise?
Don't make a noise .
They were making too much noise.
I was woken by the noise of a car starting up.
We had to shout above the noise of the traffic.
to reduce noise levels
2.
[ U ] ( technical ) extra electrical or electronic signals that are not part of the signal that is being broadcast or transmitted and which may damage it
3.
[ U ] information that is not wanted and that can make it difficult for the important or useful information to be seen clearly :
There is some noise in the data which needs to be reduced.
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IDIOMS
- make a noise (about sth)
- make noises (about sth)
- make soothing, encouraging, reassuring, etc. noises
—more at big adjective
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WHICH WORD
noise / sound
Noise is usually loud and unpleasant. It can be countable or uncountable:
Try not to make so much noise.
•
What a terrible noise!
Sound is a countable noun and means something that you hear:
All she could hear was the sound of the waves.
You do not use words like much or a lot of with sound .
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WORD ORIGIN
Middle English (also in the sense quarrelling ): from Old French , from Latin nausea seasickness, from Greek nausia , from naus ship.