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
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
Shorter’s tenor saxophone anchors the three disks with a surreal sonority, a wild cry that comes from the heart of sorrow.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 25, 2018
The last ensemble is exquisite—well-nigh unapproachable in sonority and charm.
From Autobiographical Reminiscences with Family Letters and Notes on Music by Charles Gounod
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
On this short, vivid release, he is credited with compositions and sound design, with no mention of the bass per se, even though he still supplies plenty of low-pitched sonorities here.
From New York Times ● Jan. 26, 2023
There are so many possible sonorities on the modern piano that, for me, that’s perfectly fulfilling.
From New York Times ● Jan. 18, 2022
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
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.
