sound has definitions from the fields of psychology,linguistics,phonetics,geography,nautical,physics
1
[ verb ] appear in a certain way

Examples

"This sounds interesting"

Used in print

(The Dallas Morning News,...)

Dewey_Lawrence , a Tyler lawyer representing the Texas_Bankers_Association , sounded the opposition keynote when he said it would force banks to violate their contractual obligations with depositors and undermine the confidence of bank customers .

(High Fidelity, 11:10...)

( Music often sounds best to me when I can dress informally and sit in something more comfortable than a theatre seat . )

And in its engineers ' frantic attempts to achieve maximum dynamic impact and earsplitting brilliance , the recording sounds as though it had been `` doctored for super high_fidelity '' .

(Guy Endore, Voltaire! Voltaire!...)

Rousseau had_to admit that though he could n't agree to a public performance , he would indeed , just for his own private satisfaction , dearly love to know how his work would sound when done by professional musicians and by trained voices .

The musicians of the Royal_Opera would not rehearse a work merely to see how it would sound .

Related terms

look

2
[ noun ] the particular auditory effect produced by a given cause

Examples

"the sound of rain on the roof" "the beautiful sound of music"

Used in print

(Booton Herndon, "From Custer to Korea, The 7th Cavalry"...)

bursting from the lips of a charging cavalry trooper was the last sound heard on this earth by untold numbers of Cheyennes , Sioux and Apaches , Mexican banditos under Pancho_Villa , Japanese in the South_Pacific , and Chinese and North_Korean Communists in Korea .

(Dan McLachlan, Jr., "Communication Networks and...)

The commands are specified by the military regulations ; are few in number , briefly worded , all different in sound ; and are combinable into sequences which permit any marching maneuver that could be desired on a parade_ground .

(Edward Jablonski, Harold Arlen Happy with the Blues....)

Johnny_Mercer practically grew_up with the sound of jazz and the blues in his ears .

(Harold Searles, "Schizophrenic Communication,"...)

To a much less full extent , the hebephrenic person 's belching or flatus has a comparable communicative function ; in working with these patients the therapist eventually gets to do some at_least private mulling over of the possible meaning of a belch , or the passage of flatus , not_only because he is reduced to this for lack of anything else to analyze , but also because he learns that even these animal like sounds constitute forms of communication in which , from_time_to_time , quite different things are being said , long before the patient can become sufficiently aware of these , as distinct feelings and concepts , to say them in words .

(Alex Gordon, The Cipher....)

The single shot would come ; Hoag would carry its sound to his grave .

3
[ noun ] (psychology) the subjective sensation of hearing something

Examples

"he strained to hear the faint sounds"

Used in print

(David Stacton, The Judges of the Secret Court....)

The beehive voices , for no_one could bear silence , drowned_out the sound of Mrs._Lincoln 's weeping .

(Howard Fast, April Morning....)

One moment , the road was filled with disciplined troops , marching four by four with a purpose as implacable as death ; the next , a cloud of gun_smoke covered a screaming fury of sound , out of which the redcoat soldiers emerged with their bayonets and their cursing fury .

I had squeezed the trigger of my own gun , and to my amazement , it had fired and kicked_back into my shoulder with the force of an angry mule ; and then I was adding my own voice to the crescendo of sound , hurling more vile language than I ever thought I knew , sobbing and shouting , and aware that if I had passed_water before , it was not enough , for my pants were soaking wet .

(Glayds H. Barr, The Master of Geneva....)

For an instant John longed for the sound of the bells of Noyon-la-Sainte , the touch of his mother 's hand , the lilt of Charles 's voice in the square raftered rooms , his father 's bass tones rumbling to the canons , and the sight of the beloved bishop .

(Ann Hebson, The Lattimer Legend....)

The week after Manassas the sound of horses in the yard brought Kate up in shock from an afternoon 's rest when she saw the Federal soldiers from her upstairs window .

Related terms

sensation music tone noise music

4
[ verb ] make a certain noise or sound

Synonyms

go

Examples

"She went `Mmmmm'" "The gun went `bang'"

Used in print

(High Fidelity, 11:10...)

Let me say at the outset that the music sounded as sparkling on the last playing as it did on the first .

Must records always sound like records ?

Records sound like records because they provide a different sort of experience than live music .

Yet it is the accumulation of distortion , the fitting together of fractional bits until the total reaches the threshold of our awareness , that makes records sound like records .

Command 's new Brahms Second is a major effort to make a record that sounds like a real orchestra rather than a copy of one .

5
[ noun ] (physics) mechanical vibrations transmitted by an elastic medium

Examples

"falling trees make a sound in the forest even when no one is there to hear them"

Used in print

(The Times-Picayune, [New Orleans]...)

There 's more reading and instruction to be heard on discs than ever before , although the spoken rather_than the sung word is as old as Thomas_Alva_Edison 's first experiment in recorded sound .

(The Christian Science Monitor,...)

The penalty for this is noticeable in the big , bold , brilliant , but brassy piano sounds in Melody_and_Percussion_for_Two_Pianos ( SP 44007 ) .

(David Stacton, The Judges of the Secret Court....)

It made no sound .

(William Maxwell, The Chateau....)

Through the open window they heard sounds below in the street : cartwheels , a tired horse 's plodding step , voices .

(Ann Hebson, The Lattimer Legend....)

The thin legs twitched convulsively once , then Kate felt the little body stiffening in her arms and heard one strangled sound .

6
[ noun ] the sudden occurrence of an audible event

Examples

"the sound awakened them"

Used in print

(Clayton C. Barbeau, The Ikon....)

The gentle whir of each footstep left him more naked than before , until he felt his unprotected flesh tremble , chilled by each new sound .

From the east to the west coast of the Korean_peninsula was a strip of land in which fear filled men were at that same moment furtively crawling through the night , sitting in sweaty anticipation of any movement or sound , or shouting amidst confused rifle flashes and muzzle blasts .

(Richard Ferber, Bitter Valley....)

The coyote was calling again , and he hoped that this time there would be no other sounds to interrupt it .

7
[ verb ] give off a certain sound or sounds

Examples

: "This record sounds scratchy"

Used in print

(Edward Jablonski, Harold Arlen Happy with the Blues....)

Still , he did like music making and even sang in the chapel choir of the Woodberry_Forest_School , near Orange , Virginia , where he sounded fine but did not matriculate too well .

(Harold Searles, "Schizophrenic Communication,"...)

One learns to become alert to changes in his vocal tone - to his voice 's suddenly shifting to a quality not like his usual one , a quality which sounds somehow artificial or , in some instances , parrotlike .

Earlier , this woman had been so filled with a chaotic variety of introjects that at_times , when she was in her room alone , it would sound to a passerby as though there were several different persons in the room , as she would vocalize in various kinds of voice .

A somewhat less fragmented hebephrenic patient of mine , who used_to often seclude herself in her room , often sounded through the closed door - as I would find on passing_by , between our sessions - for_all_the_world like two persons , a scolding mother and a defensive child .

(Peter Field, Rattlesnake Ridge....)

Two minutes later it came again - a double explosion , followed by a third , sounding more distant .

Related terms

speak play dissonate pierce cackel

8
[ adjective ] financially secure and safe

Examples

"sound investments" "a sound economy"

Used in print

(Handbook of Federal Aids to Communities. U.S. Dep...)

The credit requirements stipulate that the applicant must have the ability to operate the business successfully and have enough capital in the business so that , with loan assistance from the SBA , it will be able to operate on a sound financial basis .

A proposed loan must be for sound purposes or sufficiently secured so_as to assure a reasonable chance of repayment .

The Banks_for_Cooperatives were established to provide a permanent source of credit on a sound basis for farmers ' cooperatives .

(William S. Haymond, "Is Distance an Original...)

This circumstance in the patient 's case plus the fact that his tactual capacity remained basically in sound working order constitutes its exceptional value for the problem at_hand since the evidence presented by the authors is overwhelming that , when the patient closed his eyes , he had absolutely no spatial ( that_is , third-dimensional ) awareness whatsoever .

If the argument is accepted as essentially sound up to this point , it remains for us to consider whether the patient 's difficulties in orienting himself spatially and in locating objects in space with the sense_of_touch can be explained by his defective visual condition .

9
[ noun ] the audible part of a transmitted signal

Synonyms

audio

Examples

"they always raise the audio for commercials"

Used in print

(The Christian Science Monitor,...)

Directionality is greatly exaggerated most_of the time ; but when the sounds of the two speakers are allowed to mix , there is excellent depth and dimension to the music .

This is a characteristic of good stereo recording and one of its tremendous advantages over monaural sound .

These are then mixed by their sound engineers with the active co-operation of the musical staff and combined into the final two channels which are impressed on the record .

(High Fidelity, 11:10...)

Aeschbacher 's work is very_much akin to Schnabel 's , but the sound on his Decca disc is dated , and you will have a hard_time locating a copy of it .

the first hearing was fascinating and the second disillusioning as the gap between sound and substance became clearer .

Related terms

auditory_communication TV

10
[ adjective ] exercising or showing good judgment

Examples

"healthy scepticism" "a healthy fear of rattlesnakes" "the healthy attitude of French laws" "an intelligent solution" "a sound approach to the problem" "sound advice" "no reasonable explanation for his decision"

Used in print

(Handbook of Federal Aids to Communities. U.S. Dep...)

Through the SBA 's Management_Counseling_Program , practical , personalized advice on sound management principles is available upon request to both prospective and established businessmen in a community .

Related terms

reasonable

11
[ adjective ] (of film) having spoken dialogue

Synonyms

talking

Examples

"early talking pictures were known as `talkies'"

Used in print

(Frank Getlein and Harold C. Gardiner, S.J., Movies,...)

Each frame comes between the light and the lens and is individually projected on the screen , at the rate , for silent_movies , of 16 frames per second , and , for sound films , 24 frames per second .

Related terms

silent

12
[ adjective ] in excellent physical condition

Synonyms

good

Examples

"good teeth" "I still have one good leg" "a sound mind in a sound body"

Used in print

(The Dallas Morning News,...)

Except for sophomore center Mike_Kelsey and fullback Mike_Rice , Meek expects the squad to be physically sound for Rice .

Related terms

healthy

13
[ verb ] utter with vibrating vocal chords

Used in print

(Octavia Waldo, A Cup of the Sun....)

He expected Concetta 's thin hand to reach down to grasp the boy , and her shrill , impetuous voice to sound against the rotundity of his disfigured flesh that was never sure of hearing anything .

14
[ adjective ] in good condition; free from defect or damage or decay

Examples

"a sound timber" "the wall is sound" "a sound foundation"

Used in print

(H. A. Gleason, "Review of African language studies...)

We need many_more studies of this sort if the design of written_languages is to be put on a sound basis .

Related terms

unsound solid

15
[ noun ] (linguistics) an individual sound unit of speech without concern as to whether or not it is a phoneme of some language

Synonyms

speech_sound phone

Used in print

(Richard S. Prather, "The Bawdy Beautiful," Cavalier...)

She stood_up , pulled the coat from her shoulders and started to slide it off , then let_out a high-pitched scream and I let_out a low-pitched , wobbling sound like a muffler blowing_out .

16
[ verb ] announce by means of a sound

Examples

"sound the alarm"

Used in print

(The Detroit News,...)

Sound the roll of those with whom he served and who preceded him in death .

Related terms

announce phone

17
[ adverb ] deeply or completely

Synonyms

soundly

Examples

"slept soundly through the storm" "is sound asleep"

Used in print

(Dell Shannon, The Ace of Spades....)

Alison was still sound asleep ; he made fresh coffee and searched through all the desk drawers for more cigarettes before thinking_of her handbag , and found a crumpled stray cigarette at its bottom , which tasted peculiarly of face_powder .

Related terms

heavy heavy

18
[ adjective ] (of sleep) deep and complete

Examples

"a heavy sleep" "fell into a profound sleep" "a sound sleeper" "deep wakeless sleep"

Related terms

deep

19
[ adjective ] thorough

Examples

"a sound thrashing"

Related terms

complete

20
[ adjective ] free from moral defect

Examples

"a man of sound character"

Related terms

righteous

21
[ verb ] measure depths with a sounding line, as of a body of water

Synonyms

fathom

Related terms

quantify sounding fathom

22
[ adjective ] reflects weight of sound argument or evidence

Examples

"a sound argument"

Related terms

valid

23
[ adjective ] reflects weight of sound argument or evidence

Examples

"a sound argument"

Related terms

valid

24
[ adjective ] having legal efficacy or force

Synonyms

legal

Examples

"a sound title to the property"

Related terms

valid

25
[ verb ] cause to sound

Examples

"sound the bell" "sound a certain note"

26
27
[ noun ] (geography) a large ocean inlet or deep bay

Examples

"the main body of the sound ran parallel to the coast"

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