sonority

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/səˈnɑɹɪti//səˈnɔːɹɪti//səˈnɑɹəti//səˈnɔːɹəti/

noun

The property of being sonorous.

Similar
plangencyresonancereverberanceringingsonorousnessvibrancy
OriginFrench sonorité ← Latin sonōritās →
UncommonScrabble 11
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Meanings

nounsonority (countable and uncountable, plural sonorities)

plural sonorities

  1. countableuncountableThe property of being sonorous.

    Another quality that bothers me is Brendel's inconsistent sonority. The treble is hard and pingy; the midrange is weighed down with a booming bass.

    1979, High Fidelity Musical America, volume 29, number 2, page 127
  2. countableuncountablehuman sciencesRelative loudness (of a speech sound); degree of being sonorous.

    It can be seen that vowels have the highest sonority of all phonemes in English, with low vowels being even more sonorous than high vowels.

    2009, Ulrike Gut, Introduction to English Phonetics and Phonology, Bern: Peter Lang, →ISBN, page 81

Synonyms & antonyms

nounhaving the character of a loud deep sound; the quality of being resonant

Similar
plangencyresonancereverberanceringingsonorousnessvibrancy
Broader
timbretimberquality
Also see
plangencyresonancereverberanceringingsonorositysonorousnessvibrancy

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinsonōritās
  2. Frenchsonorité
  3. Englishsonority

From sonor(ous) + -ity, from French sonorité, from Latin sonōritās.

More words from French, Latin

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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