Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to echolocate

to echolocate

1 8.2
To find things by making sounds and listening to echoes, as bats do
  • verb
  • /ˌiːkoʊˈloʊkeɪt/
  • Specialized
: ecolocalizar
  • When they echolocate, bats emit sounds that bounce off objects to identify their surroundings.

So bats clearly tense their middle ear muscles right before they make this echolocating pulse.

Examples

  • Not only do whales and other mammals echolocate, they also have elaborate communication capabilities over great distances.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Dolphins use their ability to echolocate to find food in dark waters.

  • Many species of whales echolocate to navigate through the ocean and communicate with each other.

How Accurate

to pinpoint
108 4.0
to echolocate
  • Specialized
1 8.2
to locate
494 2.7
to detect
563 3.2

Surface Forms

echolocate infinitive
echolocated past
echolocated past participle
echolocating present participle
echolocates third person singular

Morphology

echolocate = echo + locate (transparent) = echo + locate

The verb is a clear combination of 'echo' + 'locate' meaning 'to locate by using echoes', which is directly inferable from the parts.

Etymology

The word echolocate comes from echo ('a sound that comes back') and locate ('to find a place'). So, to echolocate is to 'find' objects by making sounds and listening to the returning echoes, like bats or people who use clicks to know where things are.