Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to hearing, the organs of hearing, or the sense of hearing.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to hearing or to the sense or organs of hearing: as, the auditory nerve.
  • Pertaining to an auditorium; designed for an audience: as, the auditory part of a theater.
  • noun An audience; an assembly of hearers, as in a church, lecture-room, theater, etc.
  • noun A place for hearing or for the accommodation of hearers; an auditorium; specifically, in a church, the nave, in which the hearers or congregation are assembled.
  • noun A bench on which a judge sits to hear causes.
  • noun A lecture-room; a philosophical school.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to hearing, or to the sense or organs of hearing. See ear.
  • adjective (Anat.) the tube from the auditory meatus or opening of the ear to the tympanic membrane.
  • noun An assembly of hearers; an audience.
  • noun An auditorium.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of, or relating to hearing, or to the sense or organs of hearing
  • noun archaic An assembly of hearers; an audience.
  • noun archaic An auditorium.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to the process of hearing

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin audītōrius, from Latin audīre, to hear; see au- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin audītōrius ("pertaining to hearing").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin audītōrium.

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Examples

  • Koltanowski's prodigious chess memory - which he describes as auditory rather than photographic - has been a continuing source of wonder to scientists.

    SFGate: Top News Stories Specia pinkletters@sfchronicle.com (Johnny Miller 2010

  • In summer 1971, Kiang gave me intensive tutorials in auditory neurophysiology and an interesting project analyzing spike trains from the cochlear nucleus.

    Roger Y. Tsien - Autobiography 2009

  • And, of course, the biggest tip off that I am auditory is that I often talk to myself o_O

    Match Your Learning Style With The Proper Productivity Tools | Lifehacker Australia 2009

  • The patient had an 8-year history of progressive deterioration in function, punctuated by recurrent episodes that were characterized by auditory and visual hallucinations and occasional irritability.

    The Neuropsychiatric Guide to Modern Everyday Psychiatry Michael Alan Taylor 1993

  • [(Our superior had an apartment within her parlour, she called her auditory) 29.1 (; thither)] TJ

    Agnes De-Courci: a Domestic Tale 1789

  • Christ's auditory is made up of such as the scribes and Pharisees despised, and looked upon with contempt, and the rabbies would not instruct, because they were notable to pay them.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721

  • An auditory is summoned together and attention demanded.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume IV (Isaiah to Malachi) 1721

  • It has been thought that the ability to retain sequential items in short-term auditory memory ends at seven years of age; thus, prevailing intellectual wisdom and Miller's research has been that most people can repeat back about seven sequential items -- plus or minus two, referred to as "7 + or - 2"; yet, as in all things, some people do a little better, and some do a little worse -- but the magic number seven is the average, and describes the ability of most of us.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Ph.D. Jane G. Goldberg 2010

  • Short-term auditory memory in particular doesn’t seem to last longer than around 10 seconds.

    The Muse in the Machine David Gelernter 1994

  • When the ear — that is, the auditory imagination — is no longer conditioned by the body, and the membrane of the loudspeaker disappears into the dust, along with the entire universe, the only thing to survive, in so far as it is 'idea', will be the spiritual force which emanates from my music. —

    Archive 2007-12-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2007

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