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# ventriloquism

noun (ventriloquism — uncountable)

«ventriloquism» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## 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 →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/ventriloquism/#m1)

### 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 →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/ventriloquism/#x1)
- Ventriloquism takes lots of practice in front of a mirror. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/ventriloquism/#x2)
- In ventriloquism, sounds like b and p are the hardest to say without moving your lips. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/ventriloquism/#x3)
- The ventriloquism made it seem as if the dummy was singing. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/ventriloquism/#x4)
- Long ago, ventriloquism was used to make people think spirits were speaking. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/ventriloquism/#x5)
- We watched a ventriloquism show at the seaside. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/ventriloquism/#x6)

### 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.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «ventriloquism» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/ventriloquism/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«ventriloquism» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/ventriloquism.html) on Mova free.