SOUND | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
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English (UK)

Meaning of sound in English

sound
noun
uk
/saʊnd/ us
/saʊnd/

sound noun (NOISE)

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A2 [ C or U ]
something that you can hear or that can be heard:
hear a sound They could hear the sound of a bell tolling in the distance.
make a sound She stood completely still, not making a sound.
Suddenly we heard a loud knocking sound from the engine.
sound travels Sound can travel over very large distances in water.
[ U ]
the activity of recording and broadcasting sound such as from a performance of music or for a film:
a sound engineer/recording
[ U ]
the volume or quality of the sound of a television or film:
turn the sound down/up Could you turn the sound down/up on the TV?
[ C ]
the particular quality of the music that a musician or a group of musicians produce:
The band's sound is a distinctive mixture of funk and rap.
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Sound & its properties
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sound noun (SEEM)

the sound of something C2 [ S ]
how something seems to be, from what is said or written:
I like the sound of the beef in red wine sauce.
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sound noun (WATER PASSAGE)

[ C ]
a passage of sea connecting two larger areas of sea, or an area of sea mostly surrounded by land:
the Kalmar Sound
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Bays & gulfs

Grammar

Sound or noise?
Sound and noise are nouns. We can use them both as countable or uncountable nouns. Both refer to something which you can hear, but when a sound is unwanted or unpleasant, we call it a noise: …
sound
verb
uk
/saʊnd/ us
/saʊnd/

sound verb (SEEM)

sound good, interesting, strange, etc.
A2
to seem good, interesting, strange, etc. from what is said or written:
Your job sounds really interesting.
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sound like/as if/as though
B1
to seem like something, from what is said or written:
That sounds like a good idea.
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sound angry, happy, rude, etc.
B2
to seem angry, happy, rude, etc. when you speak:
He sounded very depressed when we spoke on the phone yesterday.
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sound verb (NOISE)

[ I or T ]
to make a noise:
If the alarm sounds, leave the building immediately.
sound like It sounds like a bird.
He sounds (= speaks) just like someone I used to work with.
Sounding the car's horn, she drove at high speed through the crowded streets.
sound the alarm
to cause a noise to be made or say or shout a message to warn people about something:
Quick, sound the alarm - there's a fire in the machine room!
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Sounds made by objects, movement or impact
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sound verb (WATER DEPTH)

[ T ]
to measure the depth of a mass of water, such as the sea, usually by sonar
See also
echo sounder
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Navigation & shipwrecks
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Phrasal verbs

sound off
sound someone out
sound
adjective
uk
/saʊnd/ us
/saʊnd/

sound adjective (GOOD CONDITION)

not broken or damaged; healthy; in good condition:
It's an old building but it's still structurally sound.
Considering his age, his body is surprisingly sound.
of sound mind Was she of sound mind (= not mentally ill) at the time of the incident?
financially strong and likely to succeed:
Although the company's share price has declined, its business remains basically sound.
sound investment Government bonds are a sound investment.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Undamaged, unbroken or in good condition
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sound adjective (GOOD, CORRECT)

showing or based on good judgment:
sound advice She gave me some very sound advice.
She is a sound judge of character.
I'm not sure how sound the theoretical basis for this argument is.
able to be trusted because of having a lot of ability or knowledge:
sound on The book is very sound on the basics.
How sound is her knowledge of the subject?
not harmful or wrong:
Are these pesticides environmentally sound?
I want our business to operate in an ethically sound way.
UK informal
used to say that you like, agree with, or approve of someone or something:
He's a good guy. He's sound.
"Shall we go there now?" "Yeah, sound."
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Wise and sensible
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sound adjective (SLEEP)

(of sleep) deep:
He quickly fell into a sound sleep.
Her sleep was so sound that she did not wake when they moved her.
used to describe someone who sleeps deeply and well:
I'm normally a very sound sleeper but this noise kept me awake.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Animal physiology: sleep & sleeping
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sound adjective (SEVERE)

(of a beating or defeat) severe:
The party was forced to reflect after a sound beating at the ballot box.
The thief was given a sound thrashing.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Severe
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Idiom

be as sound as a bell
sound
adverb
uk
/saʊnd/ us
/saʊnd/
deeply:
sound asleep He was sound asleep within moments of getting into bed.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Animal physiology: sleep & sleeping
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(Definition of sound from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

sound | American Dictionary

sound
noun
us
/sɑʊnd/

sound noun (SOMETHING HEARD)

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[ C/U ]
something heard or that may be heard:
[ C ] They could hear the sound of an airplane overhead.

sound noun (WATER PASSAGE)

[ C ]
a passage of sea connecting two larger areas of sea, or an area of sea mostly surrounded by land:
Puget Sound
Long Island Sound
sound
verb
us
/sɑʊnd/

sound verb (SEEM)

to suggest a particular feeling, state, or thing by the way something is said or a noise is made:
[ L ] He sounded rather discouraged when I called him yesterday.
[ I always + adv/prep ] You sound as if you have a sore throat.
[ I always + adv/prep ] From what you told me, she sounds like (= seems to be) a nice person.
[ I always + adv/prep ] That sounds like fun (= seems likely to be enjoyable).

sound verb (MAKE NOISE)

[ I/T ]
to make a noise:
[ I ] A bell sounds after fifty minutes to signal the end of the class period.
[ T ] Sound the alarm – a prisoner has escaped!

Phrasal verbs

sound off
sound out someone
sound
adjective [ -er/-est only ]
us
/sɑʊnd/

sound adjective [-er/-est only] (HEALTHY)

in good condition; (of a person) healthy, or (of a thing) not broken or damaged:
a person of sound mind
Engineers had to close the bridge because it was not sound.
Sound also describes sleep that is deep and peaceful:
She was sound asleep when the phone rang.

sound adjective [-er/-est only] (GOOD)

good because based on good judgment or correct methods:
It was a sound approach to investing money.
(Definition of sound from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

sound | Business English

sound
adjective
uk
/saʊnd/ us
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showing good judgment, or able to be trusted:
A sound money-management strategy that has the added benefit of freeing up cash for new investments.
The booklet gives sound advice on how to choose a with-profits bond.
in good condition:
The bridge is structurally sound.
complete or detailed:
A sound knowledge of law is essential.
(Definition of sound from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of sound

sound
Thus, this term represents the sound generation due purely to the dynamics of the vortex centroids.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
That is, there is a commonality of effect consistent with this region's role in the integration of sound and meaning.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The starting point for each part is either a random or a previously stored sound.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Some demonstrated the use of technical language, for example 'it did sound very like a scale'.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
They were then told to put the sounds together to say the whole word.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
This is a new synthesis technique that can generate sounds from slow movements of mechanical systems.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Further, there is no sound theoretical basis for the two heuristics that it uses.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In practice, pupils found the process of selecting sounds relatively straightforward and unproblematic.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Participants were tested and trained in small groups in a sound-attenuated room.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The volume of sound, though not to any extent distorted, had suffered a diminution of perspective.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Further, those sounds that were excluded from a child's phonemic inventory formed the pool of potential targets to be considered for treatment.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Everyone is dependent on everyone else to produce sound resulting in a truly collaborative situation.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
He also found that children, unlike adults, make sound errors in the high frequency functional elements.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Two types of voice-specific system are discussed here, both of which were developed for reasons other than sound manipulation.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
As this feature is often distinctive in consonants, it should be able to create ' cross-category ' feature-economy effects among all these various types of sounds.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with sound

sound

These are words often used in combination with sound.

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ambient sound
The visual representation of a heat wave is accompanied by a change in the ambient sound emitters.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
analogue sound
He disentangles two distinct routes: that of the recording studio, and that of the analogue sound.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
beeping sound
He then wakes up in his own bed; the beeping sound was his own alarm clock.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
See all collocations with sound
What is the pronunciation of sound?
 

Translations of sound

in Chinese (Traditional)
聲音, 聲音，聲響, （音樂演出、電影等的）音響錄製和播出，音響製作…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
声音, 声音，声响, （音乐演出、电影等的）音响录制和播出，音响制作…
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in Spanish
sonido, ruido, estrecho…
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in Portuguese
som, ruído, bom…
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in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
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in Dutch
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in Hindi
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in Russian
in Telugu
in Arabic
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in Czech
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in Korean
in Italian
आवाज…
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音, 健全な, 安全な…
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ses, ses yapmak, ses çıkarmak…
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bruit [masculine], son [masculine], sembler…
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so, soroll, bo…
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degelijk, gezond, diep…
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நீங்கள் கேட்கக்கூடிய அல்லது கேட்கக்கூடிய ஒன்று…
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आवाज़…
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અવાજ, ધ્વનિ…
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i god stand, sund, dyb…
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frisk, sund, i gott skick…
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dalam keadaan baik, nyenyak, lengkap…
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gesund, fest, solide…
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lyd [masculine], virke, høres ut…
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آواز…
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здоровий, міцний, глибокий…
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звук, звучать, производить звук…
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చప్పుడు : శబ్దం…
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صَوْت, في حَالة جَيّدة, سَليم…
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শব্দ, আওয়াজ, এমন কিছু যা আপনি শুনতে পারেন বা শোনা যায়…
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pevný, zdravý, tvrdý…
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kuat, nyenyak, menyeluruh…
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แข็งแรง, หลับสนิท, เต็มที่…
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khoẻ mạnh, trong tình trạng tốt, yên giấc…
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dźwięk, odgłos, głos…
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소리, 건전한…
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suono, valido, saggio…
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soulfulness
soulless
soullessly
soulmate
sound
sound angry, happy, rude, etc. phrase
sound bite
sound card
sound change BETA
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