Sunday Word: Sonorous
Mar. 7th, 2021 08:52 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
sonorous[suh-nawr-uhs, -nohr-, son-er-uhs]
adjective:
1 giving out or capable of giving out a sound, especially a deep, resonant sound, as a thing or place
2 loud, deep, or resonant, as a sound
3 imposing or impressive in effect or style; high-flown; grandiloquent
4 rich and full in sound, as language or verse
Examples:
If you've played a Hitman game, you'll be well acquainted with the sonorous voice of Agent 47. (Andy Kelly, David Bateson on 20 years of playing Hitman's Agent 47: 'He's my best friend!', PCGamer, February 2021)
She is careful with her word choices, avoiding any disruptive sounds that might cause someone to wake up. There’s lots of immersive description, lots of onomatopoeia, lots of soothing, sonorous language. (Alison Flood, Dream job: the writer paid to send millions to sleep, The Guardian, December 2018)
"I'm tired; I think not." Her glance wandered from his face away toward the Gulf, whose sonorous murmur reached her like a loving but imperative entreaty. (Kate Chopin, The Awakening and Selected Short Stories)
Origin:
1610s, from Latin sonorus 'resounding,' from sonor 'sound, noise,' from sonare 'to sound, make a noise,' 'to sound,' from PIE swene-, from root swen- 'to sound.' Earlier was sonouse (c. 1500), from Medieval Latin sonosus; sonourse 'having a pleasing voice' (c. 1400), from sonor + -y (Online Etymology Dictionary)