Perhaps there was a case to be made for a day's silence at the top, to avoid sounding like Herbert Hoover.

Even the bank board's chief economist avoided sounding optimistic at a news conference to announce the savings and loan industry's results today.

He kept his voice even to avoid sounding as if he were talking down to his brother.

Will the actors avoid sounding like overexcited students in a phonetics class?

The other is to avoid sounding so desperate to say something new that the interpretations run off the rails.

Both leaders, appearing in front of a plain orange background, were careful to avoid sounding like conquerors.

Across a brilliant, idiosyncratic career, he took care to avoid sounding like a Washington insider even when he was one.

"That jolts people into trying to grasp the idea," he said, "and avoid sounding silly themselves."

Waner tried to avoid sounding smug, but his text was against him.

Walking through various levels in this platform game, the player must avoid sounding alarms.