Ventriloquized

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To have expressed words in such a way that the speaker appears to be silent while the voice seems to come from another source
2. To have conveyed speech by projecting one's voice so that it mimics a different origin, often used in entertainment
3. To articulate speech so that it seems to be coming from a separate source, typically without moving the lips visibly

Etymology: "Ventriloquized" is the past tense of "ventriloquize," which means to speak in a way that makes the voice seem to come from somewhere else, usually without moving the lips. The verb is built from "ventriloquy," a noun, plus the suffix "-ize," which turns a noun into a verb meaning "to act in the manner of" or "to make into." The deeper root is Latin "venter," meaning "belly," joined to "loqui," meaning "to speak." The name therefore points to the belly as the supposed source of the voice. The sense of the Latin is literal: the ancient Romans imagined the voice of a ventriloquist coming from the stomach. Yet the Greek-influenced original was "engastrimythos," meaning "belly-speaker," which the Latin "ventriloquus" translated almost exactly. The term describes a performer whose voice seems to issue from a distance, not from the body of the speaker at all.

Synonyms: ventriloquized