Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of or resembling an echo.
- adjective Imitative of natural sounds; onomatopoeic.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Pertaining to or formed by echoism; onomatopoetic. See extract under echoism.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (linguistics) Formed in imitation of a natural sound; -- of words. Contrasted to
nonechoic . - adjective Like or characteristic of an echo.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of or pertaining to an
echo - adjective
imitative of asound ;onomatopoeic .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective (of words) formed in imitation of a natural sound
- adjective like or characteristic of an echo
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word echoic.
Examples
-
coccyx: 1615, from Gk. kokkyx "cuckoo" from kokku, like the bird's Eng. name echoic of its cry, so called by ancient Gk. physician Galen because the bone in humans supposedly resembles a cuckoo's beak.
WORDS WORDS WORDS News from Mad Plato 2007
-
coccyx: 1615, from Gk. kokkyx "cuckoo" from kokku, like the bird's Eng. name echoic of its cry, so called by ancient Gk. physician Galen because the bone in humans supposedly resembles a cuckoo's beak.
Archive 2007-12-01 News from Mad Plato 2007
-
Intimations Ode is sounded early on in the cognate object "sing a joyous song" (l. 19): echoic token of that pastoral "There was a time" (l. 1) when birds were everywhere and full-throated — and where the epithet "joyous" was as taken for granted, in the tautologies of the prefallen, as that prelinguistic song sung.
-
He watched as the two entered, the occasionally stiff, not-quite-human movements of the new android echoic of its—of her—creator.
Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Shattered Light David R. George III 2010
-
I remember as she said his name, I had one of those echoic moments.
With Love and Laughter, John Ritter Amy Yasbeck 2010
-
I've been exploring an alternative origin of this word, not from an echoic origin, but rather as a possible Semitic loan.
The so-called imitative status of PIE *pneu- "to sneeze" 2008
-
In a bat's case, I have speculated, it might be surfaces of different echoic properties or textures, perhaps red for shiny, blue for velvety, green for abrasive.
The God Delusion Dawkins, Richard, 1941- 2006
-
The swimmer, the dreamer—he had no sense of himself as himself yet—heard a voice, echoic and distorted.
Fear Itself Jonathan Nasaw 2003
-
Superstition and Revelation is as echoic -- as allusive, if you will -- as any text in Hemans.
-
In Stage 1, sensations immediately received (without requiring any focused attention) by the primary sensory cortex are initially stored in the sensory memory “store” (ultra-short-term store, echoic/iconic memory).
The Neuropsychiatric Guide to Modern Everyday Psychiatry Michael Alan Taylor 1993
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.