sonar

[soh-nahr]

noun

1. a method for detecting and locating objects submerged in water by echolocation.

2. the apparatus used in sonar.

sonar

/ ˈsəʊnɑː /

noun

1. a communication and position-finding device used in underwater navigation and target detection using echolocation

sonar

1. Short for sound navigation and ranging. A method of detecting, locating, and determining the speed of objects through the use of reflected sound waves. A sound signal is produced, and the time it takes for the signal to reach an object and for its echo to return is used to calculate the object's distance. The Doppler effect can also be used to determine the object's relative velocity. Electronic sonar systems are used for submarine navigation and for detecting schools of fish. Some mammals, especially bats, use biological sonar to navigate and detect prey in dark conditions, commonly called echolocation.

2. The equipment or physiology used in doing this.

3. See also Doppler effect lidar radar

Word History and Origins

Origin of sonar¹

1940–45; so(und) na(vigation) r(anging)

Word History and Origins

Origin of sonar¹

C20: from so ( und ) na ( vigation and ) r ( anging )

Example Sentences

A sonobuoy is a combination of the words sonar and buoy and is an acoustic sensor used to detect underwater objects such as submarines.

Read more on BBC

These inventions include side-scan sonar, which proved invaluable when locating shipwrecks, advanced underwater picture-taking equipment, and equally advanced methods of mapping a wreck site.

Read more on Literature

"It's an unspoken rule, but it's what we are adhering to for the first time: there will be no active acoustic program on board the ship, no sonar" while in Russian waters, he explained.

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This included mapping the seabed with sonar arrays and dredging up sediment samples, said the authority.

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The steady ping of the enemy’s sonar waves bouncing off the boat’s metal hull made it all too obvious.

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