sound wave

American  

noun

Physics.

1. a longitudinal wave in an elastic medium, especially a wave producing an audible sensation.

---

sound wave British  

noun

1. a wave that propagates sound

---

Etymology

Origin of sound wave

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

“How long do sound waves stay in the air?”

From Literature

Then she listened to all 70 minutes of the original audio archive from Red Crescent and decided to visualize Hind’s voice as digital sound waves that take up the entire screen.

From Los Angeles Times

In 1877, Berliner, then working with Edison, created the first “telephone voice transmitter,” a device that used a vibrating metal diaphragm to convert sound waves into electrical signals for transmission over telephone lines.

From The Wall Street Journal

It works by sending laser light into the body and detecting the sound waves produced when certain molecules absorb that light.

From Science Daily

These waves behave somewhat like sound waves, but instead of traveling through the air or deep inside a material, they move only along its surface.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• radio wave