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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin sonōrus, from sonor (“sound”), early 17th century.
Pronunciation
Adjective
sonorous (comparative more sonorous, superlative most sonorous)
- Capable of giving out a deep, resonant sound.
The highlight of the hike was the sonorous cave, which produced a ringing echo from the hiker’s shouts.
1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Mercury de Breze”, in Henry Duff Traill, editor, The French Revolution, a History, the Bastille[1], volume 2, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, The Third Estate, page 162:The Oath is redacted ; pronounced aloud by President Bailly, — and indeed in such a sonorous tone, that the cloud of witnesses, even outdoors, hear it, and bellow response to it.
- Full of sound and rich, as in language or verse.
He was selected to give the opening speech thanks to his imposing, sonorous voice.
1955 September 15, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 11, in Lolita, Paris: The Olympia Press […], →OCLC:I have all the characteristics which, according to writers on the sex interests of children, start the responses stirring in a little girl: clean-cut jaw, muscular hand, deep sonorous voice, broad shoulder. Moreover, I am said to resemble some crooner or actor chap on whom Lo has a crush.
1761, Joseph Addison, The Works of the Late Right Honorable Joseph Addison, Esq., Birmingham: John Baskerville for J. and R. Tonson, →OCLC, pages 32–33:For this reason the Italian opera seldom sinks into a poorness of language, but, amidst all the meanness and familiarity of the thoughts, has something beautiful and sonorous in the expression.
1859 July 25, Edward Everett, “Rufus Choate. Tributes to the Memory of the Hon. Rufus Choate”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2:There is nothing of the artificial Johnsonian balance in his style. It is as often marked by a pregnant brevity as by a sonorous amplitude.
1945 May and June, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 152:When the right-away was given, Driver Gibson would give a sonorous blast on Cardean's deep-toned hooter, and amid a flurry of swirling steam the train would move majestically out, with nearly half the city of Carlisle—or so it would appear—as onlookers on the platform.
- Wordy or grandiloquent.
- (linguistics, phonetics) Produced with a relatively open vocal tract and relatively little obstruction of airflow.
2001, Michael Dobrovolsky, “Phonetics: The Sounds of Language”, in William O'Grady, John Archibald, Mark Aronoff, Janie Rees-Miller, editors, Contemporary Linguistics, →ISBN, page 21:Vowels are more sonorous (acoustically powerful) than consonants, and so we perceive them as louder and lasting longer.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
capable of giving out a deep resonant sound full of sound and rich, as in language or verse
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