aural
1 Americanadjective
adjective
adjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of aural1
First recorded in 1840–50; from Latin aur(is) “the ear” + -al 1
Origin of aural2
Explanation
If you have excellent aural abilities, it means that your ears work well. Aural means "pertaining to hearing." Some people learn well using their aural skills, which means they can hear something and remember it easily later. The root of the word aural is the Latin word meaning "pertaining to the ear," auris. It's easy to get aural confused with another word that sounds similar, oral, which means "pertaining to the mouth."
Vocabulary lists containing aural
The Bluest Eye
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Commonly Confused Words, List 4
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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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.
His intentional balance of silence and audio amplifies one of the movie’s most famous moments, Adenoid Hynkel’s gibberish speech, into a bombastic, hilarious aural onslaught.
From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2026
“San Marcos Theme” arrives midway as an aural palate cleanser before Price raises the energy another notch in the back half, the sequence that begins with the Charlie Daniels cover and ends with “Maggie’s Farm.”
From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2026
"Ilaiyaraaja's arrival was a watershed moment. It was an intervention by a person from an entirely different social and aesthetic background who had imbued a distinct aural soundscape," says TM Krishna, a celebrated Carnatic musician.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
With the aural equivalent of a photographic memory, she advised financial companies on regulatory and public-policy issues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
The first method is to teach a song by rote, a technique also known as aural learning, or “by ear.”
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
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.
