resonant

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French résonnant or Latin resonāre (to resound).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɹɛzənənt/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)

Adjective

resonant (comparative more resonant, superlative most resonant)

  1. Resounding, echoing.
    From across the valley came the resonant sound of a distant church bell.
    strike a resonant note
    • 2023 November 29, Ashley Strickland, “Astronomers discover nearby six-planet solar system with ‘pristine configuration’”, in CNN[1]:
      “Cheops gave us this resonant configuration that allowed us to predict all the other periods. Without that detection from Cheops, it would have been impossible,” Luque said.
  2. (electricity, of a circuit) Adjusted as to dimensions so that currents or electric surgings are produced by the passage of electric waves of a given frequency.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

resonant (plural resonants)

  1. (phonetics) A sonorant vowel or consonant.
    Synonym: sonorant
    1. (Indo-European studies) Any of the Proto-Indo-European consonants *l, *m, *n, *r, *w (*u̯), and *y (*i̯) or its descendants in an Indo-European language, capable of syllabic pronunciation in the zero grade and represented by the cover symbol ⟨R⟩ in structural notation.

Usage notes

  • Unlike in broader linguistics, Indo-European resonants exclude the vowels (symbol: ⟨V⟩) *e, *o, [*a], and, depending on context, *i and *u, despite these latter being the syllabic forms of *y and *w respectively. There are two classes of resonants, the liquids (⟨L⟩ = *l, *r) and the nasals (⟨N⟩ = *n, *m).

Further reading

Latin

Verb

resonant

  1. third-person plural present active indicative of resonō