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:
Its streaming app hosts short-form true crime audio and video shows that are fully AI-generated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
Publishing executives, meanwhile, see a possible route to new revenue—and an alternative to the unauthorized audio versions of their books that now appear on YouTube.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Sortor posted a short audio clip, and Elon Musk amplified the claim repeatedly from his account.
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2026
The grainy footage, which has no audio, is said to show her wearing a yellow shirt, a baseball cap and a backpack while browsing items, including Molly the bird.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
Heavy television cameras and audio equipment were set up, and the operators quietly waited.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
But the growing adoption of the audio- and video-recording devices, as well as some of the features being tested, has raised worries among privacy advocates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
The lawyers propose that the evaluations be audio- and video-recorded and last eight hours for adults and four to six hours for children.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 18, 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
He resigned after audios were revealed in which he appears to call on former deputy Foreign Minister Carolina Ache to not hand over her phone to investigators.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 1, 2023
For the film, we created several CVR audios, with different iterations and deteriorations and "parasite" sounds with different layers so during the film you could, like the character, understand what happened during the crash.
From Salon ● Apr. 29, 2022
Recent terrific audios of new novels include “The Lincoln Highway” and “Cloud Cuckoo Land.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 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
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
