bruit

1 of 2

noun

Synonyms of bruit

\ ˈbrüt \ archaic

: noise, din

: report, rumor

ˈbrü-ē [French, literally, noise] : any of several generally abnormal sounds heard on auscultation

bruit

2 of 2

verb

ˈbrüt

bruited; bruiting; bruits

transitive verb

: report, rumor

—usually used with about

word of his imminent dismissal was bruited about

Did you know?

Back in the days of Middle English, the Anglo-French noun bruit, meaning "clamor" or "noise," rattled into English. Soon English speakers were also using it to mean "report" or "rumor" (it was applied especially to favorable reports). They also began using bruit the way the verb noise was used (and still occasionally is) with the meaning "to spread by rumor or report" (as in "The scandal was quickly noised about"). The English noun bruit is now considered archaic, apart from a medical sense that is pronounced like the French word and refers to one of the abnormal sounds heard on auscultation.

Examples of bruit in a Sentence

Noun a film that captures the thunderous fury of medieval warfare and the bruit of a thousand clashing swords Verb please don't bruit accusations about without confirming them first

Recent Examples on the Web

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Noun

This kind of noise, called a bruit, is caused by turbulence in the blood flowing through an artery. —Lisa Sanders, New York Times, 13 June 2018

Verb

Almost no problems get solved in the country but many are loudly bruited while basics like the economy get neglected. —Melik Kaylan, Forbes, 30 Oct. 2024 For the past few decades, several South Korean authors have been bruited about as contenders for the Nobel Prize in Literature, notably the poet Ko Un and the novelist Hwang Sok-yong, elder statesmen who were both previously jailed for political activism. —Ed Park, The Atlantic, 12 Oct. 2024 At present the Federal Reserve is bruiting the dangerous notion of pushing down a maximum charge of .14 cents per debit card swipe. —John Tamny, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2024 Since the energy crisis, which started in the fall of 1973, hydrogen has been bruited about as a future source of energy. —Llewellyn King, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2024 Dramatic action, long bruited about, comes late, though forcefully: the schoolteacher, Matthew Diamond, a mainlander who is ambivalent toward his charges, introduces the threat, and then the reality, of unwanted attention from the government. —Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 21 Jan. 2023 The main downside to the bill identified by the legislative analysts and bruited about by the drug industry is that lower profits would lead to a reduction in R&D spending. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 18 Oct. 2019 It was bruited about, for example, in 1992, during the George H.W. Bush administration, and again in 2012, when there were hopes that Mitt Romney would win election over Barack Obama. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 2019 All these measures have been bruited about by economists inside and outside the government since 2012, when GDP growth slowed to a crawl even with oil prices still around $100 a barrel. —Leon Aron, National Review, 16 Feb. 2018