echolocation
Americannoun
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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.
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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.
noun
Etymology
Origin of echolocation
Explanation
Echolocation is what some animals use to locate objects with sound rather than sight. Bats, for example, use echolocation to find food and avoid flying into trees in the dark. Echolocation involves making a sound and determining what objects are nearby based on its echos. Many animals use echolocation, including dolphins and whales, and humans do as well. Some blind people use taps or clicks and the resulting sound waves to navigate, and sonar uses echolocation to steer submarines through deep, dark water. The noun echolocation dates from the mid-twentieth century, a combination of echo, from the Greek ekhe, "sound," and location, with the Latin root locus, "a place."
Vocabulary lists containing echolocation
"Animal Snoops," Vocabulary from the informational text
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Animals (Zoology) - Introductory
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This Week In Culture: September 14–20, 2019
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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.
He describes the system as akin to echolocation, used by bats.
From BBC • Feb. 13, 2025
Basically, where head position and forward eyes is thought to be important for the development of gaze following, in dolphins which use echolocation to recognize objects, it may have evolved in a different way.
From Salon • Sep. 13, 2024
"And they seem to be able to pretty quickly lose the ability to be afraid of bat echolocation."
From Science Daily • May 15, 2024
The clicks are also used as a form of echolocation to help them track their prey.
From Seattle Times • May 7, 2024
They could do that because of something called echolocation.
From "Gregor the Overlander" by Suzanne Collins
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.
