sound off

verb

sounded off; sounding off; sounds off

intransitive verb

1

: to play three chords before and after marching up and down a line of troops during a ceremonial parade or formal guard mount

2

: to count cadence while marching

3

a

: to speak up in a loud voice

b

: to voice one's opinions freely and vigorously

Synonyms

• speak out
• shout
• cry
• pipe up
• speak up
• yell
• talk up
• shoot
• speak one's mind
• spout (off)
• call

Examples of sound off in a Sentence

she never missed a chance to sound off about the latest “stupid” political decisions

the guard captain commanded each sentry to sound off

Recent Examples on the Web

In chatty columns for the school paper, the Bowdoin Orient, Mamdani regularly sounded off on the topics of the day. —Eric Lach, New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2025

Earlier in the year, Kennedy’s nephew Jack Schlossberg sounded off on social media that the family had not been consulted about the project. —Rosemary Feitelberg, Footwear News, 7 Oct. 2025

Yankees captain Aaron Judge sounded off on the triumph over Boston after the series, noting that the Red Sox had taken nine of the 13 games between the two clubs in the regular season as well. —Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Oct. 2025

Take a look at the new photos below, then sound off in the comments! —Nick Caruso, TVLine, 25 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1909, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for sound off

• ashraf
• checkoff
• cutoff
• falloff
• handoff
• kickoff
• layoff
• liftoff
• markoff
• markov
• payoff
• playoff

Kids Definition

sound off

verb

1

: to count while marching

2

: to voice one's opinions freely with force