Meanings
sonar1
plural sonars · alternative SONAR
- uncountableusuallynauticalArtificial echolocation by use of electronic equipment, with hydrophones to locate objects underwater, using the same wave-analysis principles that radar uses.
They were able to detect the sunken wreck using sonar.
Synonyms: ASDIC
- countablenauticalA device that provides such echolocation.
They finally bought a new sonar to replace the 40-year-old unit that sometimes didn't work right.
SONAR2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounArtificial echolocation by use of electronic equipment, with hydrophones to locate objects underwater, using the same wave-analysis principles that radar uses.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna measuring instrument that sends out an acoustic pulse in water and measures distances in terms of the time for the echo of the pulse to return
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
SONAR · noun
Acronym of sound navigation and ranging. Coined by American scientist Frederick Vinton Hunt in the 1940s, roughly contemporaneously with radar. The lowercase form (sonar) is by anacronymic evolution.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic سُونار
- سُونار (sūnār)device
Catalan sonar
- sonardevice
Chinese Mandarin 聲納 /声纳
- 聲納 /声纳 (shēngnà)device
Esperanto sonaro
- sonarodevice
Finnish kaikuluotain, ääniluotain
- kaikuluotaindevice
- ääniluotaindevice
- kaikuluotausdevice
French sonar
- sonardevice
German Sonar
- Sonardevice
Greek ηχοβολιστικό, σόναρ
- ηχοβολιστικό (ichovolistikó)device
- σόναρ (sónar)device
Icelandic ómsjá, sónar
- ómsjádevice
- sónardevice
Indonesian sonar, pemair suara
- sonardevice
- pemair suaradevice
Italian idrofono, sonar
- idrofonodevice
- sonardevice
Japanese 音波水中探知機, ソナー
- 音波水中探知機 (onpa suichū tanchi-ki)device
- ソナーdevice
Korean 음파 탐지기
- 음파 탐지기 (eumpa tamjigi)device
Polish asdic, azdyk
- asdicdevice
- azdykdevice
- sonardevice
Portuguese sonar
- sonardevice
Romanian sonar
- sonardevice
Russian гидролока́тор, сона́р
- гидролока́тор (gidrolokátor)device
- сона́р (sonár)device
Spanish sónar
- sónardevice
Tagalog sonar
- sonardevice
Thai โซนาร์
- โซนาร์ (soo-nâa)device
Turkish sonar
- sonardevice
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
sonar. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sonar
“sonar.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sonar. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sonar,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sonar.
Source: sonar on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.