sonic
adjective
Simple meaning
Related to the particular auditory effect produced by a given cause.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sahnikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɑnɪk
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Of or relating to sound.
of speed
Having or caused by speed approximately equal to that of sound in air at sea level
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of or relating to sound.
Used this way, sonic is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use sonic
- “The new plane achieved sonic speeds during its test flight.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The increase in aerodynamic drag as an airplane approaches the speed of sound.
An explosive sound caused by the shock wave of an airplane traveling faster than the speed of sound.
A delay line based on the time of propagation of sound waves.
Depth finder for determining depth of water or a submerged object by means of ultrasound waves.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.