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sotto voce

adverb/ˌsɒtəʊ ˈvəʊtʃi/

C2CEFR level
80/100Rarity: very rare
FormalRegister

In a quiet voice, as if not intended to be overheard.

He muttered sotto voce that the whole plan was doomed to fail.

Similar: under one's breath, quietly

Origin: From Italian sotto voce 'under the voice'.

Topic: soft speech in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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