sounding1
/ˈsaʊndɪŋ
/noun
1 [mass noun] The action of measuring the depth of a body of water.The tedium of dredging and sounding very likely accounted for the high attrition of ship's personnel by desertion....
- But physical sounding with a line never had much of a chance as a means of mapping the silent landscape - better eyes were needed.
- A team of Navy hydrographers would be sent in to conduct detailed soundings and tidal observations of both the Koksoak River and Frobisher Bay.
1.1A measurement taken by sounding.With its deepest sounding at nearly 1,200 feet, it is the fifth deepest lake in North America....
- Operating from small rubber boats at night, the men took soundings of the water depth all along the planned invasion beaches.
1.2The determination of any physical property at a depth in the sea or at a height in the atmosphere.In this phase, using higher frequency radio waves, the instrument will continue shallow probing of the subsurface and start atmospheric sounding.
1.3 (soundings) archaic The area of sea close to the shore which is shallow enough for the bottom to be reached by means of a sounding line.
2 (soundings) Information or evidence ascertained as a preliminary step before taking action: he took soundings about the possibility of moving offices...
- The Boundary Commission for England has been criss-crossing the towns and villages in the region, taking soundings before publishing draft recommendations in December.
- The 44-year-old leader has reportedly been taking soundings from party grandees over his strategy for the election and the referendum on the European constitution, which is likely to follow soon afterwards.
- Even the Chinese government has been taking soundings on the idea of a flat tax, with leading academics calling for a reduction in the rate of tax from 45% to 20% or less.
Rhymes
sounding2
/ˈsaʊndɪŋ/adjective archaic
1Giving forth sound, especially loud or resonant sound: he went in with a sounding plunge
1.1Having an imposing sound but little substance: the orator has been apt to deal in sounding commonplaces
- adenosine monophosphate
- adenosine triphosphate
- adenosis
- adenosyl
- adenotomy
- adenotonsillectomy
- adenous
- adenoviral
- adenovirus
- adenyl
- adenylate
- adenylate cyclase
- adenylated
- adenylate kinase
- adenylating
- adenylation
- adenylic acid
- adenylyl
- adenylylated
- adenylylating
- adenylylation
- adenylyl cyclase
- Adephaga
- adephagan
- adept