echolocation

[ ek-oh-loh-key-shuhn ]

noun

1. the general method of locating objects by determining the time for an echo to return and the direction from which it returns, as by radar or sonar.
2. Zoology. the sonarlike system used by dolphins, bats, and other animals to detect and locate objects by emitting usually high-pitched sounds that reflect off the object and return to the animal's ears or other sensory receptors.

echolocation

/ ˌɛkəʊləʊˈkeɪʃən /

noun

1. determination of the position of an object by measuring the time taken for an echo to return from it and its direction

echolocation

/ ĕk′ō-lō-kā′shən /

1. Sonar, especially of animals, such as bats and toothed whales.
2. See more at sonar

Word History and Origins

Origin of echolocation¹

First recorded in 1940–45; echo + location

Example Sentences

The American philosopher Thomas Nagel argued we could never know what it is like to be a bat, which experiences the world via echolocation.

From Singularity Hub 

An international team rediscovered the species in 2019 and, for the first time, recorded its echolocation call to help prevent it from being lost to science once again.

From Science News

Microchiroptera encompass the bats that have a type of echolocation that uses sounds produced in the larynx, known as laryngeal echolocation.

From Popular-Science

In the late 1960s, Payne was a senior scientist at the Institute for Research in Animal Behavior, studying animal echolocation.

From Nautilus

More than a thousand species use echolocation, but after millions of years of evolution, bats’ brains are especially well optimized for navigation.

From MIT Technology Review