superaudibleadj.
/ˌsuːp(ə)rˈɔːdᵻbl/, /ˌsjuːp(ə)rˈɔːdᵻbl/, U.S. /ˈˌsupərˈɔdəb(ə)l/, /ˈˌsupərˈɑdəb(ə)l/ 1. Of a sound, frequency, etc.: above the upper limit of human hearing; ultrasonic. Now rare.
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the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > thing heard > [adjective] > ultrasonic
superaudible1917
supersonic1919
ultrasonic1923
ultrasonic1923
1917 Wireless Age Jan. 255 We are compelled to telephone by means of the variation of super-audible (that is, radio-frequency) electromagnetic waves.
1922 Proc. IRE 10 253 It may be at sub-audible, or super-audible frequencies.
1926 R. W. Hutchinson First Course Wireless 237 The resultant wave is anything from 2,000 metres to, say, 12,000 metres in length (super-audible frequency).
1944 Proc. IRE 32 735/2 Superaudible noise impulses which may be present.
2010 B. Donahue Schizophrenia 193 An ultrasonic pulse transmitter..produces a repetitive signal at a first superaudible frequency.
2. colloquial. Extremely audible; very loud.
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1921 D. H. Lawrence Tortoises 47 That fragile yell, that scream, Super-audible.
1975 T. Southern in Oui Jan. 167/3 A distant, but superaudible, scream—a wail, a shriek, indeed a veritable howl of shock.
2004 R. Garis Films of Orson Welles vi. 154 Pompous meanings..are heavily underlined by superaudible music in which the piano is emphatically foregrounded.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1917