sonority
Americannoun
-
sonorities
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sonority
1515–25; < Medieval Latin sonōritās < Late Latin: melodiousness, equivalent to Latin sonōr ( us ) ( see sonorous) + -itās -ity
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.
See Examples For:
While it’s quicker and faster than its predecessors, much of the focus seems to be on delivering emotional content rather than stopwatch performance—most obviously, in the presence and sonority of the engine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
The arresting analog engineering of the Royce Hall sessions are where you witness the marvelous Mehta Sound — where each sonority has a personality, even a kind of chutzpah.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2023
Bax was a true partner at the piano, adjusting almost magically to every interpretive twist or turn by Hadelich, and fully providing the kind of near-orchestral sonority the score requires.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 11, 2021
The most gravity-defying songs in this new bunch — “Diamonds,” “I Need Mo” — might be the most tuneful of his career, and at times, his sonority floats in perfect parallel to his lyrics.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 15, 2018
They are thoroughly pianistic and evoke from the instrument all its possibilities of sonority and color.
From Music: An Art and a Language by Walter Raymond Spalding
Isolated finger gestures, sometimes reaching upward, added telling small details to Mr. Morris’s choreographic momentum, which kept a heady pace with the composer’s insistently pounding, punchy sonorities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
These consisted of a Rameau/Handel program, studies in luxuriant sonorities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2025
Ensemble sonorities in the winds and brasses were clean, if not pristine or particularly atmospheric — though Judith LeClair, the orchestra’s principal bassoon, brought gorgeously buttery foreboding to her important solo.
From New York Times ● Jan. 7, 2022
The overall style is lucidly Neo-Classical, at least on the surface; below that surface, though, the pieces are alive with wayward sonorities, elusive intricacies and dark subtexts.
From New York Times ● Sep. 30, 2021
If we could listen to them all at once, fully orchestrated, in their immense ensemble, we might become aware of the counterpoint, the balance of tones and timbres and harmonics, the sonorities.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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