Listen vs Apply - What's the difference?
listen | apply |
(lb) To pay attention to a sound or speech.
:
*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=1 (lb) To expect or wait for a sound, such as a signal.
:
*
*:It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street.. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.
*
*:He reined Wrangle to a walk, halted now and then to listen , and then proceeded cautiously with shifting and alert gaze.
(lb) To accept advice or obey instruction; to agree or assent.
:
*
*:Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest.
To hear (something or someone), to pay attention to.
*1485 , Sir (Thomas Malory), (w, Le Morte d'Arthur) , Book XX:
*:‘But, sir, lyars ye have lystened , and that hath caused grete debate betwyxte you and me.’
*1592 , (William Shakespeare), : v 3
*:Lady, vouchsafe to listen what I say.
To lay or place; to put or adjust (one thing to another);—with to; as, to apply the hand to the breast; to apply medicaments to a diseased part of the body.
* {{quote-book
, author=
, title=Translation of Virgil's Aeneid
, passage=He said, and to the sword his throat applied .
, year=1697}}
To put to use; to use or employ for a particular purpose, or in a particular case; to appropriate; to devote; as, to apply money to the payment of a debt.
To make use of, declare, or pronounce, as suitable, fitting, or relative; as, to apply the testimony to the case; to apply an epithet to a person.
* (rfdate) Milton,
To fix closely; to engage and employ diligently, or with attention; to attach; to incline.
* 1611 , '', ''Proverbs 23:12,
To betake; to address; to refer; generally used reflexively.
* Alexander Pope
* (rfdate) Johnson
To submit oneself as a candidate (with the adposition "to" designating the recipient of the submission, and the adposition "for" designating the position).
To pertain or be relevant to a specified individual or group.
(obsolete) To busy; to keep at work; to ply.
* Sir Philip Sidney
(obsolete) To visit.
* Chapman
As a noun listen
is .As a verb apply is
to lay or place; to put or adjust (one thing to another);—with to; as, to apply the hand to the breast; to apply medicaments to a diseased part of the body.As an adjective apply is
.listen
English
Verb
(en verb)citation, passage=He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.}}
Usage notes
In English, listen'' and ''hear'' are two primary verbs relating to audial perception. To (hear) represents automatic, unconscious, or passive perception of sound, while ''listen generally represents intentional, conscious, or purposeful use of the sense of hearing. The difference is expressed in the following quotation: : As the silence took hold in the darkness, Sam realized that she had been hearing', though not '''listening to, various low-level sounds—the hum of air conditioning and life support, the pulse of some faraway oxygen pump, the faint buzz of the electrical and lighting systems. —Justin Richards (1999) ''Demontage , chapter 5, page 92. A similar distinction exists between see'' and ''watch in English.Quotations
* (English Citations of "listen")Synonyms
* (to pay attention) attend, behear, give ear, hark, hear, heed, list, mind, note, pay attention * (to expect or wait for a sound) await, anticipate, expect, wait for * (to accept advice or instruction) agree, assent, mind, obey * (to hear) hear, mind, heed * See alsoAntonyms
* (to pay attention) ignore * (to accept advice or instruction) disobey, disregardCoordinate terms
* speak * talkDerived terms
* listenability * listenable * listener * listenership * listening * listen in * listen up * listening post * listening station * relisten * unlistenableSee also
* hearapply
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) applier, ((etyl) appliquer), from (etyl) . See applicant, ply.Verb
(en-verb)- Yet God at last To Satan, first in sin, his doom applied .
- Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
- sacred vows applied to grisly Pluto
- I applied myself to him for help.
- I recently applied to the tavern for a job as a bartender.
- Most of the colleges she applied to were ones she thought she had a good chance of getting into.
- Many of them don't know it, but almost a third of the inmates are eligible to apply for parole or work-release programs.
- That rule only applies to foreigners.
- She was skillful in applying his humours.
- His armour was so clear, / And he applied each place so fast, that like a lightning thrown / Out of the shield of Jupiter, in every eye he shone.