Synonyms

sound out

British

verb

(tr, adverb) to question (someone) in order to discover (opinions, facts, etc)

"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

sound out Idioms

Seek the views or intentions of, as in We'd better sound out Mom about who's using the station wagon, or Let's sound out the staff before we decide which week we should close for vacation. This expression derives from sound meaning “to measure the depth of water by lowering a line or lead.” It was transferred to other kinds of inquiry in the late 1500s, but out was not added for several centuries.

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:

sound out

Then you sound out those highlighted letters, pronounced as they appear in the original clue answers, to solve the final mystery word.

From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026

Several of her hits have vintage charm—they wouldn’t sound out of place in a honky-tonk in the 1980s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026

Some Chicagoans are taking security measures into their own hands, establishing neighborhood patrols that sound out warnings when they see or suspect immigration enforcement operations.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2025

"I hope you are all safe and sound out there."

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2025

Do you know how long it takes to sound out a word like soliloquized?

From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

sound out

verb

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Related Words