How to Use vocal cords in a Sentence

vocal cords

plural noun
  • The acidity helps with the throat and the vocal cords, to kind of clear them.
    New York Times, 19 Apr. 2022
  • But not so for whistling, which doesn’t use the vocal cords.
    Bob Holmes, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Aug. 2021
  • The show starts at 6 p.m. ET, so warm up those vocal cords.
    CNN, 7 June 2020
  • Having to scream to reach the back of the room can do a number on your vocal cords.
    Chris Hachey, BGR, 18 Mar. 2021
  • Warm up your vocal cords and get ready to belt it out with the Bellas.
    Lauren Rearick, Teen Vogue, 21 Dec. 2017
  • One of the big challenges of language is the need to control the vocal cords to make the full range of speech sounds.
    Bob Holmes, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Aug. 2021
  • So take a shot or two of egg nog to warm up those vocal cords, and get ready to sing along.
    Melissa Locker, Time, 6 Dec. 2019
  • Hill stands but 4 feet 11 and lost one of her vocal cords to cancer.
    oregonlive, 3 Apr. 2021
  • Their arms and legs had been cut off, their eyes gouged, their tongues and vocal cords ripped out.
    Nick Romano, EW.com, 30 Aug. 2021
  • With your mouth closed, the throat muscle pushes the air down past the vocal cords and into the lungs.
    Krista Stevens, Longreads, 26 May 2020
  • With croup, the virus infects the vocal cords, windpipe and bronchial tubes, Piperidis said.
    Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY, 18 Mar. 2024
  • The breath is the power source of the voice, coming up from the lungs through the trachea to the vocal cords or vocal folds.
    Star Tribune, 21 July 2021
  • The battery also burned the nerves of Emmett's vocal cords, the Raunchs said.
    Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 29 Aug. 2022
  • Castille says with a hint of sandpaper on the vocal cords.
    Michael Casagrande | McAsagrande@al.com, al, 27 Jan. 2023
  • There was depth to it, as though his vocal cords had engaged.
    Los Angeles Times, 22 Aug. 2019
  • In the larynxes of most mammals, the vocal cords might get in the way of a massive flow of air.
    Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Feb. 2024
  • Once a dog's vocal cords have been removed its bark is said to sound more like a hoarse cough.
    Lisa Gutierrez, kansascity, 30 May 2018
  • Surely, all that strain on the vocal cords must tire them out a little.
    Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 7 Aug. 2022
  • He’s had a lot to learn, and not just about easing up on the burgers and steaming his vocal cords.
    Michael Paulson, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2023
  • This closing of the vocal cords helps to produce a clearer voice.
    Jenny Haward, Peoplemag, 16 June 2023
  • With vocal cords like a saxophone, they can be heard for more than a mile.
    John Schandelmeier, Anchorage Daily News, 7 May 2018
  • In the midst of all of this, Likins also had to have surgery on her spinal column and her vocal cords have suffered.
    USA TODAY, 13 Feb. 2024
  • She’s insured her vocal cords and legs for a cool $70 million!
    Alex Kessler, Vogue, 27 Mar. 2024
  • But their brains still send speech signals to the vocal cords and the 100-plus muscles involved in speaking.
    Emily Matchar, Smithsonian, 5 Aug. 2019
  • For the first 30 seconds of the track, Jessie J holds the tempo back, letting her vocal cords do all the work over a few piano keys.
    Natalie Maher, Harper's BAZAAR, 12 Nov. 2018
  • Doctors told him there seemed to be nothing wrong with his vocal cords.
    Harrison Smith, Washington Post, 19 Oct. 2020
  • The strain on her vocal cords marked the beginning of the end of her performing career.
    Ron Grossman, chicagotribune.com, 10 Feb. 2022
  • That in turn loops under the aortic arch, part of the large artery carrying blood from the heart, and then travels back up the neck to the vocal cords.
    Jeffrey M. Rodgers, Scientific American, 29 Sep. 2022
  • Also like a guitar string, the thicker and larger a person’s vocal cords are, the deeper their baseline pitch is.
    Angela Roberts, Baltimore Sun, 22 Feb. 2024
  • The vocal cords themselves looked healthy, but the surrounding tissue was acutely inflamed.
    Dessa Dessa Tanya Pérez Alec K. Redfearn, New York Times, 12 June 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'vocal cords.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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