(Discover even more words in The Writer’s Body Lexicon.)

Voices Evoke Varied Reactions

As a writer, your job is to make readers hear what you want them to hear and react the way you want them to react.

In context, dulcet tones could imply a beautiful woman. Abrasive barks might work for an impatient CEO. Singsong droning would be appropriate for many teachers.

Let’s Review What a Few Other Authors Have Written for Voice Comparisons

“A hoarse bass voice like an echo in an empty house.” ~ Amos Oz

“as hard as the blade of a shovel.” ~ Raymond Chandler

“like a broken phonograph.” ~ Anonymous

“like a strained foghorn.” ~ W. W. Jacobs

“like the cry of an expiring mouse …” ~ Arthur C. Benson

“like the whistle of birds.” ~ Arabian Nights

“brittle as the first ice of autumn.” ~ Michael Gilbert

“Delicate voices, like silver bells.” ~ Nikolai V. Gogol

“For thy voice like an echo from Fairyland seems.” ~ Anonymous

“Gruff voice, like the creaking of the gallows-chain.” ~ R. D. Blackmore

“Her voice … creaked like the hinges of a rusty iron gate.” ~ Stefan Zweig

“like the evening thrush.” ~ Robert Burns

“like the harmony of angels.” ~ Beaumont and Fletcher

“like a bagpipe suffering from tonsillitis.” ~ Anonymous

“like the rising storm.” ~ Lord Byron

“like melting honey.” ~ Jimmy Sangster

“Liquid voice resounded like the prelude of a flute.” ~ Gabriel D’Annunzio

“No more inflection than a traffic light.” ~ John Updike

“flat and hard as a stove lid.” ~ James Crumley

“like a chair scraping across a tiled floor.” ~ Roderic Jeffries

“like a coyote with bronchitis.” ~ O. Henry

“like dark brown velvet.” ~ Josephine Tey

“like dish-water gurgling through a sink.” ~ Octave Mirbeau

“like down feathers.” ~ William Diehl

“like the music of rills.” ~ William Cullen Bryant

“soft and cool as a prison yard.” ~ Joseph Wambaugh

“like hollow wind in a cave.” ~ Ossian

“as pure and sweet as if from heaven.” ~ Aubrey De Vere

“cruel as a new knife.” ~ George Garrett

“low as the summer music of a brook.” ~ T. Buchanan Read

“as soft and murmurous as wings.” ~ George Garrett

What Other Comparisons Could You Use?

Pleasant
baby’s giggle
bubbling porridge
cascading waterfall
contented kitten
cooing dove
chirruping nightingale
church choir
finely tuned guitar
gently lapping waves
lilting xylophone
lover’s kiss
mother’s murmur
pattering rain
purring engine
sweet cello
symphony of crickets
tinkling glass
twittering canary
whispering meadow
wind chimes

Unpleasant
alarm clock
ambulance siren
backfiring jalopy
belching bully
car alarm
cat fight
clucking hen
coughing cat
cracking knuckles
dentist’s drill
discordant violin
explosive vomit
freeway pileup
grating manhole cover
grizzly bear
insistent jackhammer
mewling cat
microphone feedback
pregnant frog
simmering sewer
snuffling sow
squawking crow
squeaky wheel
squealing brakes
thick phlegm
violent windstorm
whistling teakettle
woofing seal

Tip: Listen to the sounds around you, including those on TV, podcasts, and online recordings. Make a list of agreeable and disagreeable sounds. Then incorporate them in your next writing project.

No Need to Always Use Like for Comparisons

Many of the words from 150+ Ways to Say “Look Like” or “Seem Like” could be used to create direct comparisons.

A music teacher might create an analogy based on a musical instrument: “Her shrill voice embodied every discordant violin I had ever heard.”

A lover would hear only the best from his sweetheart: “Her voice resonated: a cooing dove amidst a symphony of crickets.”

However, after an angry breakup, his attitude might change: “Her hen-clucking pecked apart everything I did.”

Be bold. Experiment. Unusual comparisons will produce the most memorable moments in your writing.

While you create, remember that what seems pleasant to one person could be disagreeable to someone else. Provide context that illustrates your intent.

Watch point of view. Your protagonist could label another person’s voice as sweet but would be unlikely to use the same adjective for self-description.

More Than 250 Adjectives to Describe Voices

Some of the following words tell rather than show.

For instance, describing a voice as mocking tells in one word what might be better shown with dialogue and body language: “You’re no better at darts than your puny brother,” Jim said, eyebrows raised. “My kid sister could beat you with her eyes closed.”

The List

A
abrasive, accusatory, acerbic, acidic, acrimonious, adenoidal, alto, animated, appealing, astringent, authoritative

B
barbed, baritone, barking, bass, big, biting, bitter, bland, bleak, blunt, bombastic, booming, bored, boyish, brash, braying, breathy, breezy, bright, brisk, brittle, broken, bubbly, burbling

C to E
calm, caustic, cheerful, cold, colorless, contralto, countertenor, crisp, critical, croaky, cutting, dead, demanding, disembodied, disinterested, dispassionate, droning, dulcet, dull, effervescent, energetic

F and G
faint, fawning, feathery, feeble, fierce, firm, flat, forceful, fretful, fruity, gentle, girlish, glum, goofy, gracious, grating, grave, gravelly, grim, growling, gruff, guttural

H to J
hard, harsh, hearty, hesitant, high-pitched, hissing, hoarse, honeyed, hostile, hushed, husky, immense, impartial, indifferent, indistinct, ingratiating, insinuating, intense, ironic, jeering, joking, jubilant

L and M
lifeless, light, lilting, lively, loud, loving, low, malicious, matter-of-fact, mellifluous, melodious, mezzo-soprano, mild, mocking, modulated, monotone, monotonous, mournful, muffled, musical, muted

N to Q
nasal, nasty, neutral, nonchalant, obsequious, oily, orotund, passionate, penetrating, piercing, piping, placating, plummy, polished, pretentious, quavering, querulous, quiet

R
ragged, raspy/rasping, raucous, raw, razor-edged, reedy, refined, relaxed, resonant, restrained, ringing, roaring, robust, rough, rumbling

Sa to Sn
saccharine, sad, sarcastic, sardonic, savage, scathing, scornful, scratchy, screeching, searing, serene, severe, shaky, sharp, shrieking, shrill, sibilant, silken, silly, silvery, sincere, singsong, sleek, slippery, sluggish, slurred/slurring, sly, small, smarmy, smoky, smooth, snide

So to Sy
soft, somber, sonorous, soothing, sophisticated, soprano, sotto-voce, sour, squeaky, squealing, staccato, stark, steely, stentorian, stern, stiff, stilted, stinging, stony, strained, strangled, strident, strong, suave, subdued, submissive, subservient, sugary, suggestive, surly, sweet, sympathetic

T and U
tart, taut, teasing, tender, tenor, tense, thick, thin, throaty, thunderous, tight, toneless, trembling, tremulous, trilling, unctuous, unsteady, unsympathetic

V to W
vague, velvet/velvety, venomous, vicious, virulent, vitriolic, warm, wavering, weak, weary, wheezy, whiny/whining, whispering, wistful, wobbly, wooden