Rumour Meaning
/ˈɹuːmə(ɹ)/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounBritish, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Ireland spelling of rumor.
nounUK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Ireland spelling of rumor.
Sentence Examples
When the accountant was arrested, rumour had it that it was for his creative bookkeeping.
The rumour has already spread.
Rumour has it that he's the richest dude in this town.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ about the pop star's secret wedding was later proven to be completely false.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ about the celebrity's engagement spread rapidly across social media platforms.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English rumour, from Old French rumour, rumor, from Latin rūmor (“common talk”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *rewH- (“to shout, roar”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Rumour had it (though not proved) that she descended from the house of the lords Talbot de Malahide"
— 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
"There were rumours, new rumours every morning, delightful and outrageous rumours, so that the lumps in the porridge were swallowed without comment and the fish-cakes were eaten without contumely."
— 1922, Michael Arlen, “1/1/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
""Keep off Conductor Rails" said red-painted notices at the platform ends, for third-rails were laid in many places even where electric trains never normally ran, and there had been many rumours of impending electrification of the Wirral, as a natural extension of the Mersey system, a quarter of a century before the change was actually made."
— 1954 March, W. A. Tuplin, “Recollections of the Wirral Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 167:
"I myself gave support to the summoning of the Estates General ... as merely mistaken . Similarly it might be held that Paradise originated in a rumour invented in hell to make society the more interesting . ' ' We need a saviour ."
— 1969, Peter Vansittart, Pastimes of a Red Summer: A Novel, Owen, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 140:
"Dame Rumour outstrides me yet again."
— 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 18:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ about the pop star's secret wedding was later proven to be completely false.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ about the celebrity's engagement spread rapidly across social media platforms.