ventriloquism

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: ven=tril=o=quism

CIDE DICTIONARY

ventriloquism, n. [See Ventriloquous.].

 The act, art, or practice of speaking in such a manner that the voice appears to come, not from the person speaking, but from some other source, as from a dummy held by the ventriloquist, from the opposite side of the room, from the cellar, etc.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

ventriloquism, n. the skill of speaking or uttering sounds so that they seem to come from the speaker's dummy or a source other than the speaker.

Derivative

ventriloquial adj. ventriloquist n. ventriloquize v.intr. (also -ise).

Etymology

ult. f. L ventriloquus ventriloquist f. venter belly + loqui speak

ROGET THESAURUS

ventriloquism

Voice

N voice, vocality, organ, lungs, bellows, good voice, fine voice, powerful voice, musical voice, intonation, tone of voice, vocalization, cry, strain, utterance, prolation, exclamation, ejaculation, vociferation, ecphonesis, enunciation, articulation, articulate sound, distinctness, clearness, of articulation, stage whisper, delivery, accent, accentuation, emphasis, stress, broad accent, strong accent, pure accent, native accent, foreign accent, pronunciation, homonym, orthoepy, cacoepy, euphony, gastriloquism, ventriloquism, ventriloquist, polyphonism, polyphonist, phonology, vocal, phonetic, oral, ejaculatory, articulate, distinct, stertorous, euphonious, how sweetly sounds the voice of a good woman, the organ of the soul, thy voice is a celestial melody.