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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

so·no·rous

Audio Help [suh-nawr-uh

s, -nohr-, son-er-uh

s] Pronunciation Key

–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 sound¹ + -or -or¹) + -us -ous

]

—Related forms

so·no·rous·ly, adverb

so·no·rous·ness, noun

—Synonyms 4. eloquent, florid, grandiose, orotund.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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sonorous

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

son·o·rous Audio Help (sŏn'ər-əs, sə-nôr'-, -nōr'-) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Having or producing sound.
Having or producing a full, deep, or rich sound.
Impressive in style of speech: a sonorous oration.
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).

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
sonorous

1611, from L. sonorus "resounding," from sonor (gen. sonoris) "sound, noise," from sonare "to sound" (see sound (n.1)).

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