sonic boom
noun · verb
Simple meaning
An explosive sound caused by the shock wave of an airplane traveling faster than the speed of sound.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sahnihkboomSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɑnɪkˈbum
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.
noun
physicsaerodynamics
An explosive sound caused by the shock wave of an airplane traveling faster than the speed of sound
physicsaerodynamics
The audible effect of a shock wave in the air, especially one caused by an aircraft flying faster than the speed of sound.
verb
To produce such an effect.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An explosive sound caused by the shock wave of an airplane traveling faster than the speed of sound
Used this way, sonic boom is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.