sound wave

noun

1

: sound entry 1 sense 1a

2

sound waves plural : longitudinal pressure waves in any material medium regardless of whether they constitute audible sound

earthquake waves and ultrasonic waves are sometimes called sound waves

Examples of sound wave in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Instead of a handheld probe sweeping across your skin, a ring of transducers surrounds the body underwater and fires sound waves from every angle at once, reconstructing a full 3D volume from the echoes. —Gabriel Alin Zainescu, Forbes.com, 19 June 2026

Yan and his colleagues used sound waves to encode a stream of data, including images and labels that identified those images. —IEEE Spectrum, 18 June 2026

The sensors send ultrasonic sound waves through your body from every angle. —Richard Lawler, The Verge, 18 June 2026

The device incorporates a 256-channel wireless ultrasound imaging system that uses high-frequency sound waves to monitor structures inside the wrist responsible for controlling finger and palm motions. —Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 10 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1848, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for sound wave

• agave
• behave
• concave
• conclave
• enclave
• engrave
• enslave
• forgave
• landgrave
• margrave
• shortwave
• aftershave

Medical Definition

sound wave

noun

1

: sound sense 1

2

sound waves plural : longitudinal pressure waves especially when transmitting audible sound