sonority

[ suh-nawr-i-tee, -nor- ]
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noun,plural so·nor·i·ties.
  1. the condition or quality of being resonant or sonorous.

Origin of sonority

1
1515–25; <Medieval Latin sonōritās<Late Latin: melodiousness, equivalent to Latin sonōr(us) (see sonorous) + -itās-ity

Words Nearby sonority

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use sonority in a sentence

  • The first three movements are the best; the only charm of the fourth being its sonority, for the musical contents are poor.

  • It does not possess the rough gravity of the Spanish, and has too few of the i's and e's that soften the sonority of the Italian.

    Frdric Mistral | Charles Alfred Downer
  • The hymn began to repeat itself, the individual words lost in the sonority of the hall.

    The Jewels of Aptor | Samuel R. Delany
  • From the phonetic point of view we may think of words and groups of words as consisting of a series of sounds of varying sonority.

  • We may indicate the sonority very roughly by lines; if we connect their top ends, we shall obtain a curve.