sotto voce \SAH-toh-VOH-chee\, adverb or adjective:
1. Spoken low or in an undertone, as not to be overheard.
2. (Music) In very soft tones. Used chiefly as a direction.
This conversation was not conducted sotto voce around the water cooler
or over a lunch far from the office. It happened recently in a far more public
place: an Internet message board, a kind of e-mail bulletin board.
--Reed Abelson, "By the Water Cooler in Cyberspace, the Talk Turns Ugly," New
York Times, April 29, 2001
Say it sotto voce, they say, knowing full well that to shout about it
would invite ridicule
--Julian Muscat, "Classic case for a change of course," Times (London), April
24, 2001
"What am I to do?" asked Marvel, sotto voce.
--H.G. Wells, The Invisible Man
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Sotto voce is from the Italian: sotto, "under" + voce, "voice."