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sound

noun · adjective · verb · adverb

Simple meaning

A sensation perceived by the ear caused by the vibration of air or some other medium.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sownd
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsaʊnd

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A sensation perceived by the ear caused by the vibration of air or some other medium.

  2. A vibration capable of causing such sensations.

  3. music

    A distinctive style and sonority of a particular musician, orchestra etc.

  4. Earshot, distance within which a certain noise may be heard.

  5. The air bladder of a fish.

  6. Noise without meaning; empty noise.

adjective

  1. of sleep

    Quiet and deep.

  2. Healthy.

  3. Complete, solid, or secure.

  4. Heavy; laid on with force.

  5. britishirelandslang

    Good; acceptable; decent.

verb

  1. intransitive

    To be conveyed in sound; to be spread or published; to convey intelligence by sound.

  2. To fathom or test; to ascertain the depth of water with a sounding line or other device.

  3. To ascertain, or to try to ascertain, the thoughts, motives, and purposes of (a person); to examine; to try; to test; to probe.

  4. intransitive

    Of a whale, to dive downwards.

  5. transitive

    To cause to produce a sound.

  6. Make a certain noise or sound

adverb

  1. Soundly.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A sensation perceived by the ear caused by the vibration of air or some other medium.

Used this way, sound 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
Matter-of-fact
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 sound

  • “He strained to hear the faint sounds.”noun
  • “Falling trees make a sound in the forest even when no one is there to hear them.”noun
  • “The sound of rain on the roof.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

sound effectssound judgmentsound like

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • soundingnounInflected form

    A measure of the depth of water taken with a sounding line.

  • soundernounInflected form

    A device for making soundings.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • soundlyadverbDerived adverb

    Deeply or completely.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • sound judgmentnounCompound term

    The capacity to assess situations or circumstances shrewdly and to draw sound conclusions.

  • sound lawnounCompound term

    A law describing sound changes in the history of a language.

  • sound offverbCompound term

    Express one's opinion openly and without fear or hesitation.

  • sound outverbCompound term

    Speak, pronounce, or utter in a certain way.

  • sound perceptionnounCompound term

    The perception of sound as a meaningful phenomenon.

  • sound pollutionnounCompound term

    Annoying and potentially harmful environmental noise.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • soundtracknounRelated term

    Sound recording on a narrow strip of a motion picture film.

  • soundboardnounRelated term

    Resonator consisting of a thin board whose vibrations reinforce the sound of the instrument.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Antonyms

Sense: quiet and deep

unsound

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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.