sound wave

Definition of sound wave

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 Steinhauer’s replica, technically called a Bose-Einstein condensate, has the same property but for sound waves. — Wired, "A Scientist's Tiny Black Hole Brings the Cosmos Into the Lab," 8 Nov. 2019 For instance: what would actually happen if you were blown back by a sound wave from a giant amplifier, à la Marty McFly in Back to the Future? — Tyler Aquilina, EW.com, "Could You Survive the Movies?," 14 Oct. 2019 At one point, Philippe likens the concept to cymatics, in which plates or membranes vibrate in resonance with sound waves to produce patterns on their surface that reflect the substrate's modal vibrations. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "Alien’s origin story chestbursts anew in stirring new documentary," 11 Oct. 2019 Marra used a two-stage system for his research: sonic tomography, which sends sound waves through the tree, followed by electrical resistance tomography, which transmits an electric current. — Jan Ellen Spiegel, Quartz, "Scientists are finding that forests aren’t as good at fighting climate change as we thought," 12 Sep. 2019 The mysterious noises initially led investigators to suspect a sonic weapon, but investigators ruled out the possibility sound waves could have caused the damage. — Josh Lederman, NBC News, "Doctors find differences in brains of U.S. diplomats who alleged mystery attacks in Cuba," 23 July 2019 The sound wave technology behind Cliovana is relatively well-supported by science for a variety of other uses. — Daliah Singer, Glamour, "Are Sound Waves the Key to Better Orgasms?," 17 July 2019 The design features of old-school fine dining restaurants — tablecloths, drapes and carpeting — also happen to absorb sound waves, keeping them from bouncing off surfaces and amplifying a crowded room. — Soleil Ho, SFChronicle.com, "Why we need to rethink the concept of noise in restaurants," 13 Sep. 2019 The researchers were looking for the coupling between electrons and a type of sound wave, called a phonon. — Chris Lee, Ars Technica, "Hydride predicted to be superconductive at room temperature," 6 Sep. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sound wave.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

15 Nov 2019

Time Traveler for sound wave

The first known use of sound wave was in 1848

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More Definitions for sound wave

sound wave

noun

English Language Learners Definition of sound wave

: a wave that is formed when a sound is made and that moves through the air and carries the sound to your ear

See the full definition for sound wave in the English Language Learners Dictionary

sound wave

Kids Definition of sound wave

: a wave that is produced when a sound is made and is responsible for carrying the sound to the ear

sound wave

Medical Definition of sound wave

1 : sound sense 1

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

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