Phrase guide

white noise

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌwaɪt ˈnɔɪz/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A random signal (or process) with a flat power spectral density; a signal with a power spectral density that has equal power in any band, at any centre frequency, having a given bandwidth.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any nondescript noise used for background or to mask or drown out other noise.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Speech that goes ignored or uncomprehended.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, figuratively, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a noise produced by a stimulus containing all of the audible frequencies of vibration

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • white noise is a good masking agent

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: noise, interference, disturbance

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: soroll blanc — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Chinese Mandarin: 白噪音 (báizàoyīn) — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Chinese Mandarin: 白噪聲 /白噪声 (báizàoshēng) — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Chinese Mandarin: 白雜訊 /白杂讯 (báizáxùn) — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Czech: bílý šum — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Dutch: witte ruis — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Finnish: valkoinen kohina — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • French: bruit blanc — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • German: weißes Rauschen — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Hebrew: רעש לבן (rá'ash laván) — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Indonesian: derau putih — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Japanese: ホワイトノイズ (howaito noizu) — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Kazakh: ақ шу (aq şu) — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Korean: 백색잡음 (baeksaekjabeum) — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Korean: 백색소음 (baeksaekso'eum) — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Korean: 화이트 노이즈 (hwaiteu noijeu) — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Malay: hingar putih — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Portuguese: ruído branco — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Romanian: zgomot alb — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Russian: бе́лый шум (bélyj šum) — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Spanish: ruido blanco — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Spanish: sonido blanco — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Spanish: alteración blanca — random signal with flat power spectral density
  • Swedish: vitt brus — random signal with flat power spectral density