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So a stage whisper is defined as (American Heritage Dictionary):

  1. The conventional whisper of an actor, intended to be heard by the audience but supposedly inaudible to others on stage.
  2. A whisper that can be or is intended to be overheard.

Is there any good description of the opposite? For example, if I'm in a crowded place, and I mock-yell under my breath so that only I or a single friend am actually aware of it, how could we describe that?

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  • This is a rhetorical answer.
    – Mitch
    Feb 20, 2016 at 18:54
  • Funny. I'm pretending to laugh uproariously under my breath.
    – Tim
    Feb 20, 2016 at 20:58

1 Answer 1

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A stage whisper is a feigned whisper, which is so loud and hoarse that almost everyone in the theater audience can hear it.

A _______shout is a feigned shout, which is so quiet and hoarse that almost nobody in the random crowd can hear it.

The problem here is that when shouting in this manner, you're not in any special place dedicated to a certain kind of activity (theater). You're merely in a crowded (and nameless) place. The neat symmetry you're looking for thus does not exist, and the place, being nameless, can't lend its name as the adjective.

What the two have in common is hoarseness, and the fact that they're feigned.

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  • This doesn't answer the question. Is there a word for a feigned shout made in such a way as to be only heard by those close by?
    – user867
    Jun 5, 2016 at 23:39
  • Yes, it's called a feigned shout or A FEIGNED SHOUT and I've explained in the answer why there will be no parallel for "stage".
    – Tim
    Jun 6, 2016 at 10:57

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