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definitions

echo

[ek-oh]
See more synonyms for echo on Thesaurus.com
noun, plural ech·oes.
  1. a repetition of sound produced by the reflection of sound waves from a wall, mountain, or other obstructing surface.
  2. a sound heard again near its source after being reflected.
  3. any repetition or close imitation, as of the ideas or opinions of another.
  4. a person who reflects or imitates another.
  5. a sympathetic or identical response, as to sentiments expressed.
  6. a lingering trace or effect.
  7. (initial capital letter) Classical Mythology. a mountain nymph who pined away for love of the beautiful youth Narcissus until only her voice remained.
  8. Cards. the play of a high card and then a low card in the suit led by one's partner as a signal to continue leading the suit, as in bridge, or to lead a trump, as in whist.
  9. Electronics. the reflection of a radio wave, as in radar or the like.
  10. (initial capital letter) U.S. Aerospace. one of an early series of inflatable passive communications satellites.
  11. a word used in communications to represent the letter E.
verb (used without object), ech·oed, ech·o·ing.
  1. to emit an echo; resound with an echo: The hall echoed with cheers.
  2. to be repeated by or as by an echo: Shouts echoed through the street.
verb (used with object), ech·oed, ech·o·ing.
  1. to repeat by or as by an echo; emit an echo of: The hall echoes the faintest sounds.
  2. to repeat or imitate the words, sentiments, etc., of (a person).
  3. to repeat or imitate (words, sentiments, etc.).

Origin of echo

1300–50; Middle English ecco < Latin ēchō < Greek, akin to ēchḗ sound
Related formsech·o·er, nounech·o·less, adjectiveout·ech·o, verb (used with object), out·ech·oed, out·ech·o·ing.sub·ech·o, noun, plural sub·ech·oes.un·ech·oed, adjectiveun·ech·o·ing, adjective

Synonyms for echo

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12, 13. ring, reverberate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for echo

imitation, reverberation, repetition, reflection, parallel, respond, reiterate, recall, resound, reflect, mirror, reverberate, ring, ringing, rebound, reiteration, repercussion, reproduction, answer, reply

Examples from the Web for echo

Contemporary Examples of echo

Historical Examples of echo

  • Too much that Tillie poured out to her found an echo in her own breast.

    K

    Mary Roberts Rinehart

  • The effect of so strange an echo on David may better be imagined than described.

    The Last of the Mohicans

    James Fenimore Cooper

  • And the echo of our laughter was as if the spirits laughed, behind our backs.

    It Happened in Egypt

    C. N. Williamson

  • He was surprised to hear his question repeated, not as an echo, but by another.

    Welsh Fairy Tales

    William Elliott Griffis

  • The echo of his hidden thought made it easier for him to go on.

British Dictionary definitions for echo

echo

noun plural -oes
    1. the reflection of sound or other radiation by a reflecting medium, esp a solid object
    2. the sound so reflected
  2. a repetition or imitation, esp an unoriginal reproduction of another's opinions
  3. something that evokes memories, esp of a particular style or era
  4. (sometimes plural) an effect that continues after the original cause has disappeared; repercussionthe echoes of the French Revolution
  5. a person who copies another, esp one who obsequiously agrees with another's opinions
    1. the signal reflected by a radar target
    2. the trace produced by such a signal on a radar screen
  7. the repetition of certain sounds or syllables in a verse line
  8. the quiet repetition of a musical phrase
  9. Also called: echo organ, echo stop a manual or stop on an organ that controls a set of quiet pipes that give the illusion of sounding at a distance
  10. an electronic effect in recorded music that adds vibration or resonance
verb -oes, -oing or -oed
  1. to resound or cause to resound with an echothe cave echoed their shouts
  2. (intr) (of sounds) to repeat or resound by echoes; reverberate
  3. (tr) (of persons) to repeat (words, opinions, etc), in imitation, agreement, or flattery
  4. (tr) (of things) to resemble or imitate (another style, earlier model, etc)
  5. (tr) (of a computer) to display (a character) on the screen of a visual display unit as a response to receiving that character from a keyboard entry
Derived Formsechoing, adjectiveecholess, adjectiveecho-like, adjective

Word Origin for echo

C14: via Latin from Greek ēkhō; related to Greek ēkhē sound

Echo

1
noun
  1. either of two US passive communications satellites, the first of which was launched in 1960

Echo

2
noun
  1. Greek myth a nymph who, spurned by Narcissus, pined away until only her voice remained

Echo

3
noun
  1. communications code word for the letter e
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for echo
n.

mid-14c., from Latin echo, from Greek echo, personified as a mountain nymph, from or related to ekhe "sound," ekhein "to resound," from PIE root *swagh- "to resound" (cf. Sanskrit vagnuh "sound," Latin vagire "to cry," Old English swogan "to resound"). Related: Echoes.

v.

1550s, from echo (n.). Related: Echoed; echoing.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
echo in Science

echo

[ĕk′ō]
  1. A repeated sound that is caused by the reflection of sound waves from a surface. The sound is heard more than once because of the time difference between the initial production of the sound waves and their return from the reflecting surface.
  2. A wave that carries a signal and is reflected. Echoes of radio signals (carried by electromagnetic waves) are used in radar to detect the location or velocity of distant objects.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.