Meanings
present singular third person echolocates · participle present echolocating · participle past echolocated · past echolocated
- intransitivetransitiveTo locate by means of echolocation.
Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.
2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, archived from the original on 16 Jun 2013, pages 206–7
Origin
From echo + locate. Coined by American zoologist Donald Griffin in 1944.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Portuguese ecolocalizar
- ecolocalizarto locate by means of echolocation
Welsh adlaisleoli
- adlaisleolito locate by means of echolocation
Cite this entry
echolocate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/echolocate
“echolocate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/echolocate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “echolocate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/echolocate.
Source: echolocate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.