chime in
to add one's opinion to a discussion
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
On Thursday, leading retailers including supermarket giant Asda and department store John Lewis also CHIMED IN, raising alarms about possible higher prices for Scottish shoppers.
(Seattle Times)
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The team put out a call for help on the Internet, and experts CHIMED IN with information and suggestions.
(New York Times)
(Seattle Times)
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The team put out a call for help on the Internet, and experts CHIMED IN with information and suggestions.
(New York Times)
Did you
know?
chime in
phrasal verb
- to break into a conversation or discussion, especially to express an opinion
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
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The word chime is both a noun and a verb. In the noun form it can refer to:
- an apparatus for striking a bell so as to produce a musical sound, such as a door bell
- a set of bells or slabs of metal, stone or wood that produce musical tones when struck (often used in the plural in this context - chimes)
The noun stems either from the Old English cymbal/cimbal or Latin cymbalum (a musical instrument in the form of a slightly curved thin metal plate that is played by hitting it with a drumstick or with another cymbal and that makes a very loud metallic sound) and was apparently misinterpreted as "chyme bellen," a sense that eventually changed to "chime bells."
The verb form of chime means to sound harmoniously (as in a set of bells), to produce a musical sound by striking a bell or gong (Did you hear the door bell chime?) or in a figurative sense to harmonize or agree (Their views chimed with ours). The latter sense is where the phrasal verb "chime in" originates from and means to join in a conversation to offer one's opinion.
Although several major English dictionaries suggest that "chime in" refers to an unwelcome interruption to a conversation, more often than not it is used in a neutral sense to indicate joining a discussion in order to offer one's opinion.
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SYNONYMS
barge in, butt in, horn in, interject, interpose, intrude
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Feel free to chime in anytime during the presentation."
phrasal verb
- to break into a conversation or discussion, especially to express an opinion
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
---
The word chime is both a noun and a verb. In the noun form it can refer to:
- an apparatus for striking a bell so as to produce a musical sound, such as a door bell
- a set of bells or slabs of metal, stone or wood that produce musical tones when struck (often used in the plural in this context - chimes)
The noun stems either from the Old English cymbal/cimbal or Latin cymbalum (a musical instrument in the form of a slightly curved thin metal plate that is played by hitting it with a drumstick or with another cymbal and that makes a very loud metallic sound) and was apparently misinterpreted as "chyme bellen," a sense that eventually changed to "chime bells."
The verb form of chime means to sound harmoniously (as in a set of bells), to produce a musical sound by striking a bell or gong (Did you hear the door bell chime?) or in a figurative sense to harmonize or agree (Their views chimed with ours). The latter sense is where the phrasal verb "chime in" originates from and means to join in a conversation to offer one's opinion.
Although several major English dictionaries suggest that "chime in" refers to an unwelcome interruption to a conversation, more often than not it is used in a neutral sense to indicate joining a discussion in order to offer one's opinion.
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SYNONYMS
barge in, butt in, horn in, interject, interpose, intrude
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Feel free to chime in anytime during the presentation."
