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sonorous

 - 3 dictionary results

so⋅no⋅rous

  [suh-nawr-uhs, -nohr-, son-er-uhs]
Use sonorous in a Sentence
–adjective
1. giving out or capable of giving out a sound, esp. a deep, resonant sound, as a thing or place: a sonorous cavern.
2. loud, deep, or resonant, as a sound.
3. rich and full in sound, as language or verse.
4. high-flown; grandiloquent: a sonorous speech.
Origin:
1605–15; < L sonōrus noisy, sounding, equiv. to sonōr-, s. of sonor sound (son(āre) to sound 1 + -or -or 1 ) + -us -ous

Related forms:
so⋅no⋅rous⋅ly, adverb
so⋅no⋅rous⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
4. eloquent, florid, grandiose, orotund.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To sonorous
son·o·rous   (sŏn'ər-əs, sə-nôr'-, -nōr'-)   
adj.  

  1. Having or producing sound.

  2. Having or producing a full, deep, or rich sound.

  3. Impressive in style of speech: a sonorous oration.

  4. also (sō'nər-əs) Produced in the manner of a sonorant.


[From Latin sonōrus, from sonor, sound, from sonāre, to sound; see swen- in Indo-European roots.]
son'o·rous·ly adv., son'o·rous·ness n.
Usage Note: The older pronunciation of sonorous has stress on the second syllable. As a recent survey indicates, however, the variant pronunciation with stress on the first syllable is now much more common in American English. In this survey, 84 percent of the Usage Panel gave (sŏn'ər-əs) as their pronunciation, and only 16 percent gave (sə-nôr'əs) or (sə-nōr'əs). Two linguists on the Panel noted that whereas they stress the first syllable, they pronounce it with a long (o), as (sō'nər-əs).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

sonorous 
1611, from L. sonorus "resounding," from sonor (gen. sonoris) "sound, noise," from sonare "to sound" (see sound (n.1)).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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