French word

ânonner

Pronunciation

IPA/anone/

Meaning

  • verbdrone

Example

Elle ânonne le texte devant la classe.

She drones the text in front of the class.

Illustration for ânonner (drone)

More examples

Lors de la conférence, il ânonne son discours officiel et le public s'ennuie.

At the conference, he drones through his official speech and the audience gets bored.

Core concept

Each word arrives like a separate, uncertain step, while the voice stays mechanically flat.

Common phrases

  • ânonner ses réponses

    drone through one's answers

  • ânonner un discours officiel

    drone through an official speech

Similar words

balbutier: Speak hesitantly, with words coming out in broken fragments.
bredouiller: Speak indistinctly and with a mumbling, hard-to-understand delivery.
marmonner: Speak quietly in a low, mumbling voice.
réciter: Say memorized content aloud in sequence.

Definition in French

Lire ou répéter des mots de manière monotone et hésitante, sans naturel ni intonation.

Word origin

The French verb derives from ânon, 'young donkey', and connects hesitant, repetitive speech with the young animal's characteristic braying.

Usage tips

  • Ânonner is often a critical description of delivery, so it can sound harsher than neutral phrases such as lire sans intonation or hésiter.

Other meanings

  • stammerverb
  • recite mechanicallyverb

Opposites

  • déclamerdeclaimverb

Related words

  • ânonnementdroningnoun

Word lists with this word