SOUNDING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sounding mean? 

• SOUNDING (noun)
  The noun SOUNDING has 2 senses:

1. a measure of the depth of water taken with a sounding line

2. the act of measuring depth of water (usually with a sounding line)

  Familiarity information: SOUNDING used as a noun is rare.

• SOUNDING (adjective)
  The adjective SOUNDING has 3 senses:

1. appearing to be as specified; usually used as combining forms

2. having volume or deepness

3. making or having a sound as specified; used as a combining form

  Familiarity information: SOUNDING used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SOUNDING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A measure of the depth of water taken with a sounding line

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("sounding" is a kind of...):

deepness; depth (the extent downward or backward or inward)

Derivation:

sound (measure the depth of (a body of water) with a sounding line)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of measuring depth of water (usually with a sounding line)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("sounding" is a kind of...):

measure; measurement; measuring; mensuration (the act or process of assigning numbers to phenomena according to a rule)

Derivation:

sound (measure the depth of (a body of water) with a sounding line)

• SOUNDING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Appearing to be as specified; usually used as combining forms

Synonyms:

looking; sounding

Context example:

taken in by high-sounding talk

Similar:

superficial (concerned with or comprehending only what is apparent or obvious; not deep or penetrating emotionally or intellectually)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having volume or deepness

Context example:

the sounding cataract haunted me like a passion

Similar:

full ((of sound) having marked deepness and body)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Making or having a sound as specified; used as a combining form

Context example:

harsh-sounding

Similar:

audible; hearable (heard or perceptible by the ear)

 Context examples 

The bell, which had seemed straight ahead, was now sounding from the side.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was the call, the many-noted call, sounding more luringly and compellingly than ever before.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

The whistles are sounding; we are nearing Galatz.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

She was not good; she was not original: she used to repeat sounding phrases from books: she never offered, nor had, an opinion of her own.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He rose from the couch and left the chamber, while Alleyne could hear his feet sounding upon the winding stair.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Ever in his ears was sounding her sharp and nervous snarl.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

But people tend to react negatively to these unfamiliar, chemical sounding names when they appear on an ice cream label, assuming these must be artificial ingredients.

(Freeze-Dried Strawberries and Ice Cream Make for a Very Stable Relationship, Agricultural Research Service)

"It will go! It will go!" was the refrain that kept, sounding in his ears.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Buried under the Greenland Ice Sheet, the subcontinent's bedrock topography has been estimated using soundings from ice-penetrating radar.

(Hidden Greenland canyons mean more sea level rise, NASA)

All this contributes to sounding the alarm and that's why we must act now.

(Health threats caused by mobile phone radiation, EUROPARL TV)