sensurround

S1E1N1S1U1R1R1O1U1N1D2

proper noun

An audio process for motion pictures using low-frequency sound to produce physical sensations in an audience.

Scrabble 12

Meanings

sensurround1

nounsensurround (uncountable)
  1. uncountableAlternative letter-case form of Sensurround.

    She'd felt it coming in the routing reading of signals in the marriage sensurround.

    1998, Don DeLillo, Underworld, →ISBN, page 115
    2 more examples

    Forty-seven malnourished men can make a surprising amount of noise. Never again do I expect to experience Dolby sensurround quadrophonic Nicam digital snoring of such exceptional quality.

    2000, Pete McCarthy, McCarthy's Bar, →ISBN, page 306

    The selections here are mostly dark, heavy, and propulsive, with enough sensurround synthistry to soundtrack an IMAX film about underwater life.

    2001 January, Michaelangelo Matos, “Reviews”, in Spin, volume 17, number 1, page 118

Sensurround2

proper noun
  1. An audio process for motion pictures using low-frequency sound to produce physical sensations in an audience.

    For Libby, hysterics were an MGM Technicolor production in Dolby Sound and Sensurround.

    2006, Nancy Martin, Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too, →ISBN, page 129
    3 more examples

    The object of Sensurround is to subject the audience to such high levels of such low frequency sound that they feel as well as hear the sound waves.

    1977 December, “Rolling and reeling with Sensurround”, in New Scientist, page 771

    Who is against upgrades, jump cuts, more channels, better speakers, the Sensurround pleasure dome of everyday life?

    2002, Todd Gitlin, Media Unlimited: How the Torrent of Images and Sounds Overwhelms Our Lives, →ISBN, page 115

    Upstairs, you enter a cavernous ballroom, like a junior high school auditorium taken over by aliens with superior technology—featuring amazing lighting tricks and a Sensurround–style bass response that makes your chest feel as if it's going to explode.

    2010, Eve Zibart with Lea Lane and Aaron Starmer, The Unofficial Guide to New York City, →ISBN, page 455

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*sent-
  2. Proto-Italic*sentiō
  3. Latinsentiō
  4. Latinsēnsu
  5. Proto-Germanic*sinnaz
  6. Frankish*sinn
  7. Vulgar Latin*sennus
  8. Old Frenchsens
  9. Middle Englishsense
  10. Englishsense
  11. Proto-Indo-European*úp
  12. Proto-Indo-European*upér
  13. Proto-Italic*super
  14. Latinsuper
  15. Latinsuper-
  16. Latinunda
  17. Latinundō
  18. Late Latinsuperundō
  19. Middle Frenchsouronder
  20. Middle Englishsourrounden
  21. Englishsurround
  22. EnglishSensurround

Blend of sense + surround, coined as a brand name.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

sensurround. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sensurround

MLA

“sensurround.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sensurround. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sensurround,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sensurround.

Source: sensurround on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.