ventriloquism

Everyday

Ventriloquism is the skill of speaking without moving your lips, so the voice seems to come from somewhere else, usually a puppet or dummy on your knee. tree →

In the lessons

In stories, fairs and talent shows a ventriloquist makes a dummy seem to talk. In science lessons it shows how our brains guess where a sound comes from by what we see. Phrases: a ventriloquism act, ventriloquism show.

Examples

• She won the talent show with her ventriloquism act. tree →
• Ventriloquism takes lots of practice in front of a mirror. tree →
• In ventriloquism, sounds like b and p are the hardest to say without moving your lips. tree →
• The ventriloquism made it seem as if the dummy was singing. tree →
• Long ago, ventriloquism was used to make people think spirits were speaking. tree →
• We watched a ventriloquism show at the seaside. tree →

Note

Uncountable. The person is a ventriloquist; the puppet is a dummy. Said «ven-TRIL-o-kwiz-um». From Latin for «speaking from the belly», but the voice really comes from the throat and mouth. Ventriloquists cannot actually throw their voice; it is a trick of attention.