Aloud means speaking with your voice so that others can hear you, rather than reading or thinking silently in your head. When your teacher asks you to read aloud from your book, you say the words out loud so the whole class can hear the story. When you're working on a math problem and you think aloud, you speak your thoughts so others can follow your reasoning.

The word helps us distinguish between the silent voice in our minds and actual spoken words. You might read a book silently to yourself on the bus, but read the same book aloud to a younger sibling at bedtime. Sometimes people think aloud when they're trying to solve a tricky problem, speaking their thoughts to help organize their ideas or to let others help them.

Aloud is different from allowed, which means permitted. You might not be allowed to talk aloud during a test, for example. Notice that aloud always refers to sound and voice: you can laugh aloud, wonder aloud, or say something aloud.