resonate

res·o·nate
R1E1S1O1N1A1T1E1
US, UK/ˈɹɛz.əˌneɪt/Australia/ˈɹez.əˌnæɪt/

verb

To vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration.

“His words resonated with the crowd.”

Meanings

verbresonate (third-person singular simple present resonates, present participle resonating, simple past and past participle resonated)

present singular third person resonates · participle present resonating · participle past resonated · past resonated

  1. To vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration.

    The books on top of the piano resonate when he plays certain notes.

  2. figurativelyTo have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support.

    His words resonated with the crowd.

    3 more examples

    Because of Reddit's voting system, the visibility of content is dependent on how the content resonates with Redditors.

    2013, Darin Jewell, Conrad Jones, Publish and Promote Your Ebook in a Day, page 140

    “The control of women and babies has been a feature of every repressive regime on the planet,” wrote Margaret Atwood earlier this year, on why her 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale is resonating so forcefully in the age of Trump.

    2018 January 7, Stephanie Merritt, “Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich review – fertile ground for dystopian nightmares”, in The Guardian

    The Letters' account of Dolghurucki's hopeless entanglement in the politics of the imperial accession resonated with her readers, and Vigor's story becomes a minor set piece of Russian histories in the eighteenth century.

    2018 June 30, Katrina O'Loughlin, Women, Writing, and Travel in the Eighteenth Century, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 110
  3. figurativelyTo agree or sympathise, not necessarily perfectly, usually with an emotion, an attitude, or an intellectual position.

    The human propensity to resonate emotionally with others.

    5 more examples

    1976 Professor Rosenblith: U.S. DEPARTMENT of Health, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE DHEW Publication No. (NIH) 76-1138 Proceedings of Conferences I think the tone of concern, both within the outer and the inner circle here,. . . is obviously something that I resonate with. We're dealing with problems in decision-making and uncertainty...

    1989 J. Giles Milhaven: Good Anger. →ISBN Their readers certainly gain if they are ready to understand and feel with them in their poetry. When I read their text, I gain. I resonate with their wrath. I taste some of their sore satisfaction. I join respectfully the murderous fury they feel and express at brutal abuse... On the face of it, it is damn' peculiar. We approve and resonate with this individual's passion to get revenge. We would disapprove and be horrified by their actual getting it.

    1995 Handbook of spirituality for ministers: ed. Robert J. Wicks →ISBN I am frequently asked why the topic has assumed such major importance in Christian spirituality ... I resonate with the question. In my own Jesuit formation-largely before the council—I received no introduction to discernment. This is doubly strange since our founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola, is the source of most current discussions with the "Rules of the Discernment of Spirits" found in his book... I often look to his life to find meaning for my own. I see how he had to have his solitude time and how he looked with love upon people in his work world... I resonate with the stories which tell of his human side: too weary to go into the village with the disciples to buy food, attempting to get away by boat from the crowds who continually surrounded him with their needs...

    1997 Linda Hogan: Conversations with American novelists / ed Kay Bonetti et al. →ISBN I walk every day, out around there, but I don't have the same connection to it that I do to the land in Oklahoma. I always say it's as if Oklahoma was my home before I was born. I feel a profound sense of connection to that place. The land that I resonate with is there.

    1997 Paths of Faithfulness Ed. Carol Ochs. →ISBN While I resonate with this mystical process — often even yearn for it, trying bits of it on my own — it's not so easy for me. I am not a mystic. I do not feel capable of such mystical pursuits.

Synonyms & antonyms

verbsound with resonance

Similar
Broader

verbbe received or understood

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Italic*wre-
  2. Latinre-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*swenh₂-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*swonh₂éyeti
  5. Proto-Italic*swonaō
  6. Latinsonō
  7. Latinresonō
  8. Englishresonate

Borrowed from Latin resonō.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian резонирам
  • резонирам (rezoniram)to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Dutch resoneren
  • resonerento vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Finnish värähdellä, värähdellä mukana
  • värähdelläto vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
  • värähdellä mukanato vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
  • resonoidato vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
  • vaikuttaato have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
  • saada vastakaikuato have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
  • saada kannatustato have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
French résonner
  • résonnerto vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
German schwingen, mitschwingen
  • schwingento vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
  • mitschwingento vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
  • nachhallento vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
  • einen Widerhall findento have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
Indonesian melekat
  • melekatto have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
Irish athshon
  • athshonto vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Italian risuonare, accordarsi
  • risuonareto vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
  • accordarsito have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
  • concordareto have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
Māori tōiri, tōiriiri
  • tōirito vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
  • tōiriirito vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Portuguese ressoar
  • ressoarto vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Romanian răsuna
  • răsunato vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Russian резони́ровать
  • резони́ровать (rezonírovatʹ)to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Spanish resonar, retiñir
  • resonarto vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
  • retiñirto vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
  • resonarto have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
Ukrainian резонува́ти
  • резонува́ти (rezonuváty)to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Vietnamese cộng hưởng
  • cộng hưởngto vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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