audio
adjective
designating an electronic apparatus using audio frequencies.
audio
1 American
[aw-dee-oh]
/ ˈɔ diˌoʊ /
adjective
-
Electronics. designating an electronic apparatus using audio frequencies.
audio amplifier.
-
of, relating to, or employed in the transmission, reception, or reproduction of sound.
-
of or relating to frequencies or signals in the audible range.
noun
-
audios
plural
-
Television.
-
the audio elements of television (distinguished from video).
-
the circuits in a receiver for reproducing sound.
-
the audio part of a television broadcast.
-
-
the field of sound recording, transmission, reception, and reproduction.
audio-
2
American
audio
1
British
/ ˈɔːdɪˌəʊ /
noun
-
of or relating to sound or hearing
audio frequency
-
relating to or employed in the transmission, reception, or reproduction of sound
-
of, concerned with, or operating at audio frequencies
audio-
2
British
combining form
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of audio1
First recorded in 1920–25; independent use of audio-
Origin of audio-2
< Latin audī- (stem of audīre to hear) + -o-
Explanation
Audio means sound. If you turn up the volume and turn down the bass on your TV, you adjust the audio. The noun audio always refers to what you can hear, although there are several different ways to use it. If you covet expensive speakers for your stereo, you wish for new audio equipment, and when someone complains about the sound at a movie theater he might say, "The audio is way too loud." Audio was first used as a prefix, in words like audio-frequency, and came to mean "recorded sound" in the 1930s.
Vocabulary lists containing audio
Common Senses: Aud ("Hear")
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
One fake of Julia Roberts layered fabricated audio over a 2023 Gucci campaign.
From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026
English football has innovated with RefCam with live audio this season, and publishing the transcript of the discussions between the VAR and the referee.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
In 2019, MLS became the first league to publicly share VAR audio after matches through a show called Inside VAR - effectively the pre-cursor to Match Officials Mic'd Up in the Premier League.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Attempts to bring audio directly into live matches has proved unsuccessful.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Venkat strained to hear the audio feed over the murmur of the VIPs in the observation booth.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Along the way, the camera-equipped, audio- and video-recording devices have become a privacy lightning rod.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The company announced a $1 billion creator fund earlier this year, and it also plans to focus more on features to bring users together in real-time, like audio- and video-chat rooms.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 7, 2021
The meeting was audio- and video-recorded by Nike’s lawyers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2019
At Bridgewater, most meetings and many common areas are audio- or video-recorded.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 16, 2016
Americans this year will spend some $35 billion on records, audio- and videotapes and CDs, almost as much as they will spend on Japanese hardware manufactured to play them.
From Time Magazine Archive
The law's critics argued it unjustly targeted journalists, who often source stories based on images showing graphic violence, including messages left by alleged gang members, or even interviews, graffiti and audios shared on social media.
From Reuters ● Nov. 2, 2023
The latest protest against Lim’s leadership was called after local sports newspaper Superdeporte published leaked audios of club president Anil Murthy.
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2022
Recent terrific audios of new novels include “The Lincoln Highway” and “Cloud Cuckoo Land.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2022
Mental health experts today have access to thousands of videos, audios, tweets, interviews and speeches of the president and innumerable other public figures and politicians.
From Salon ● Jan. 5, 2022
Sabo eased himself from the seat, tuning up his audios to their highest sensitivity, moving over to Brownie.
From Derelict by Alan Edward Nourse
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
