sound

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noun

1 sth you hear

ADJECTIVE

▪ big, deafening, loud, powerful

▪

We need a big powerful sound from the trumpets in the final passage.

▪ audible

▪ faint, little, soft

▪ high, high-pitched

▪ deep, low

▪ clean, clear, sharp

▪

He produces a good clean sound on his flute.

▪ piercing

▪ muffled

▪ amazing, beautiful, good, lovely, pleasing, sweet

▪

His film opens with the sweet sound of birdsong.

▪ awful, horrible, sickening

▪

There was a sickening sound as his head made contact with the concrete.

▪ familiar

▪ different, strange

▪

We experimented with different sounds.

▪ distinctive

▪ haunting

▪ beeping, booming, buzzing, clanking, clicking, etc.

▪ metallic

▪ electronic

▪ hollow

▪ distorted

▪ distant

▪

the distant sound of church bells

▪ musical

▪ guitar, piano, etc.

▪

She tried to describe what made a good guitar sound.

▪ speech, vowel

▪ natural

▪

the mixing of recorded and natural sound

▪ ambient

▪

There's a lot of ambient sound in this film.

VERB + SOUND

▪ hear, listen for, listen to

▪

He listened for sounds of movement.

▪ emit, make, produce, pronounce, transmit, utter

▪

What's making that awful creaking sound?

▪

Three bones transmit sounds to the inner ear.

▪

He didn't utter a single sound throughout the meeting.

▪ use

▪

She uses all the sounds available to a 21st-century composer.

▪ be filled with

▪

The room was filled with the sound of laughter.

▪ awake to, be woken by, wake to, wake up to

▪

I awoke to the sound of rain.

▪ be interrupted by

▪ jump at

▪

He jumped at the sound of my voice.

SOUND + VERB

▪ carry, travel

▪

Sound carries well over calm water.

▪ come

▪

A strange sound came from the box.

▪

My mouth moved but no sound came out.

▪ echo, fill, ring out

▪

A hollow sound echoed through the room.

▪ die away, fade, fade away

▪ grow louder

SOUND + NOUN

▪ wave

▪ effect

▪ bite

▪

As a politician he is a master of the 30-second sound bite.

PREPOSITION

▪ at the sound of

▪

He turned around at the sound of footsteps behind him.

▪ without a sound

▪

The door opened without a sound.

▪ sound of

▪

the sound of breaking glass

▪ sound from

▪

There was a strange sound from downstairs.

PHRASES

▪ break the sound barrier

▪ the speed of sound

2 the sound from TV, radio, etc.

ADJECTIVE

▪ mono, stereo, surround

▪ recorded

▪ great

▪

a game with good graphics and great sound

VERB + SOUND

▪ turn down, turn off, turn up

▪

Can you turn the sound up?

▪ get

SOUND + NOUN

▪ level, quality

▪ system

▪

a stereo sound system

▪ recording

▪ engineer

▪ card

3 of musicians

ADJECTIVE

▪ live

▪

The band developed a formidable live sound.

▪ different, new, unique

▪ beautiful, great

▪

Franz Ferdinand have a great sound that's their own.

▪ signature

▪

the band's signature sound

VERB + SOUND

▪ create, develop

▪

The Moog synthesizer created a whole new sound.

◆◆◆

NOTE: Sounds

▪ give a … 

▪

The dog gave a low growl.

▪ let out a … 

▪

He let out a blood-curdling scream.

▪ hear … 

▪

We heard the peal of church bells.

▪ with a … 

▪

The vase fell to the ground with a great crash.

▪  … of

▪

a roar of laughter

▪

a snort of derision

▪

the whine of an engine

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verb

Sound is used with these nouns as the subject: ↑alarm, ↑bell, ↑buzzer, ↑doorbell, ↑explosion, ↑fire alarm, ↑footstep, ↑horn, ↑instrument, ↑intercom, ↑music, ↑name, ↑recording, ↑singer, ↑siren, ↑song, ↑thunder, ↑tone, ↑trumpet, ↑warning, ↑whistle

Sound is used with these nouns as the object: ↑alarm, ↑alert, ↑bell, ↑call, ↑cool, ↑fanfare, ↑fun, ↑horn, ↑note, ↑retreat, ↑siren, ↑trumpet, ↑warning, ↑whistle

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adj.

1 in good condition

VERBS

▪ be, look, seem

ADVERB

▪ extremely, fairly, very, etc.

▪ reasonably

▪

The roof is in reasonably sound condition.

▪ structurally

▪

Is the building structurally sound?

PHRASES

▪ safe and sound (= not hurt)

▪

We finally arrived home safe and sound.

2 sensible

VERBS

▪ be, seem

ADVERB

▪ extremely, fairly, very, etc.

▪

That seems like fairly sound advice.

▪ perfectly

▪

She had a perfectly sound reason for acting as she did.

▪ basically, fundamentally

▪ ecologically, environmentally, financially, ideologically, scientifically, technically, theoretically

▪

It was a financially sound investment.

Sound is used with these nouns: ↑advice, ↑archive, ↑argument, ↑barrier, ↑base, ↑basis, ↑capability, ↑card, ↑check, ↑clip, ↑common sense, ↑economy, ↑effect, ↑engineer, ↑file, ↑finance, ↑footing, ↑foundation, ↑fundamentals, ↑investment, ↑judgement, ↑knowledge, ↑management, ↑mix, ↑pattern, ↑plan, ↑practice, ↑quality, ↑reason, ↑reasoning, ↑recording, ↑reflection, ↑reproduction, ↑science, ↑sculpture, ↑signal, ↑sleep, ↑start, ↑strategy, ↑studio, ↑system, ↑tape, ↑technician, ↑thrashing, ↑vibration, ↑wave

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adv.

Sound is used with these adjectives: ↑asleep