aurally

A1U1R1A1L1L1Y4
UK/ˈɔːɹ.əl.i/US/ˈoɹ.ə.li/

adverb

Pertaining to sound or the ear; via or through the sense of hearing.

“While the flashy special effects were nice, the movie was aurally jarring, loud and displeasing in general to the ear.”

OriginProto-Germanic *līką ← Proto-Indo-European *leyg- ← English aural →
UncommonScrabble 10
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Meanings

adverbaurally (not comparable)
  1. not comparablePertaining to sound or the ear; via or through the sense of hearing.

    While the flashy special effects were nice, the movie was aurally jarring, loud and displeasing in general to the ear.

    1 more example

    While differentiation is often not challenging for certain languages (anyone can recognise the difference between Russian and French, or Mandarin and Spanish), as languages become closer the difficulty of aurally separating them increases.

    2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 10

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
soundwise

Origin

  1. Englishaural
  2. Proto-Indo-European*leyg-
  3. Proto-Germanic*līką
  4. Englishaurally

From aural + -ly.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Polish usznie, audialnie
  • uszniePerceived by the ear
  • audialniePerceived by the ear
  • słuchowoPerceived by the ear
  • audytywniePerceived by the ear
Russian на слух
  • на слух (na slux)Perceived by the ear
Spanish auditivamente
  • auditivamentePerceived by the ear
Cite this entry
APA

aurally. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aurally

MLA

“aurally.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aurally. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “aurally,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aurally.

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