sonorousnessn.
/ˈsɒn(ə)rəsnəs/, /səˈnɔːrəsnəs/, U.S. /ˈsɑnərəsnəs/, /səˈnɔrəsnəs/ The character or quality of being sonorous.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > resonance or sonority > [noun] > resonant quality
fullness1440
shillness1486
sonority1623
resonance1669
sonorousness1669
soundingness1727
sonorosity1772
sonoriety1828
plangency1858
canorousness1870
ringingness1874
1669 R. Boyle Of Absolute Rest in Bodies 13 in Certain Physiol. Ess. (ed. 2) I enquired of what Age he thought such Instruments, especially Lutes, ought to be to attain their full and best seasoning for sonorousness.
1777 G. Forster Voy. round World I. 478 We did not find that sonorousness in the Tonga-Tabboo dialect, which is prevalent in that of Taheitee.
1778 W. Pryce Mineralogia Cornubiensis 46 A small portion of Bismuth increases the brightness, hardness, and sonorousness of Tin.
1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 503/1 The peculiar sonorousness which percussion frequently elicits over the left hypochondrium.
1865 G. Grote Plato I. i. 73 The colour, sonorousness,..&c., of the bodies around us.
1900 Daily Mail 21 Feb. 5/6 The splendid sonorousness of the orator's voice.
1926 P. Whiteman & M. M. McBride Jazz ix. 193 One baritone saxophone is equal in sonorousness to a section of nine or ten cellos.
1999 E. Hirsch How to read Poem xi. 252 The feeling is created by the sonorousness of the language.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1669