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sonant

[ soh-nuhnt ]
/ ˈsoʊ nənt /
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See synonyms for: sonant / sonants on Thesaurus.com
adjective
sounding; having sound.
Phonetics. voiced (opposed to surd).
noun Phonetics.
a speech sound that by itself makes a syllable or subordinates to itself the other sounds in the syllable; a syllabic sound (opposed to consonant).
a voiced sound (opposed to surd).
(in Indo-European) a sonorant.
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Origin of sonant

1840–50; <Latin sonānt- (stem of sonāns), present participle of sonāre to sound1. See son-, -ant

OTHER WORDS FROM sonant

Words nearby sonant

so much the, somy, son, sonal, sonance, sonant, sonar, sonarman, sonata, sonata da camera, sonata da chiesa
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Words related to sonant

choral, lyric, oral, singing, voiced, vowel, articulate, expressed, intonated, modulated, operatic, phonetic, phonic, pronounced, put into words, said, spoken, uttered, verbal, viva voce

How to use sonant in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for sonant

sonant
/ (ˈsəʊnənt) /
adjective
phonetics denoting a voiced sound capable of forming a syllable or syllable nucleus
inherently possessing, exhibiting, or producing a sound
noun
phonetics a voiced sound belonging to the class of frictionless continuants or nasals (l, r, m, n, ŋ) considered from the point of view of being a vowel and, in this capacity, able to form a syllable or syllable nucleus

Derived forms of sonant

sonance, nounsonantal (səʊˈnæntəl) or sonantic, adjective

Word Origin for sonant

C19: from Latin sonāns sounding, from sonāre to make a noise, resound
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
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