MEANING
1. To make a soft, low, repeated call, as a dove or pigeon does.
2. To speak in a soft, affectionate, or soothing way.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- doves coo
- a cooing call
On the page
Pigeons cooed beneath the roof while the alley remained empty.
Word forms
- Base
- coo
- Past tense
- cooed
- Past participle
- cooed
- Present participle
- cooing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- coo
- Present continuous
- am/is/are cooing
- Present perfect
- have/has cooed
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been cooing
- Past
- cooed
- Past continuous
- was/were cooing
- Past perfect
- had cooed
- Past perfect continuous
- had been cooing
- Future
- will coo
- Future continuous
- will be cooing
- Future perfect
- will have cooed
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been cooing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: coo; coos; cooed; cooed; cooing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: dialogue, description. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: coos.
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