sonic
14
6.2
- adjective
- /ˈsɒnɪk/
- Specialized
:
sónico
- A sonic boom is the audio track of a shock wave.
- sonic boom
Technology goes up, up, up, up, up, but sometimes it doesn't because people don't like Sonic booms and jet fuel got too expensive.
- Technology goes up, up, up, up, up, but sometimes it doesn't because people don't like Sonic booms and jet fuel got too expensive.
- So the guy that was behind everyone else heard the Sonic boom and runs towards the other two and we end up getting all three right.
Examples
-
A sonic boom occurs when an aircraft travels faster than the speed of sound.
-
And if you're lucky, you may hear the faint pop of the sonic boom.
-
Dad, was that another sonic boom?
-
Heard this massive sonic boom.
-
A couple that lives north of us was outside and said that they heard a sonic boom.
Blog text (28) -
Ever experience a dish-rattling sonic boom?
Academic text (2006) -
Break the sound barrier and there's a sonic boom.
-
It's a sonic boom.
-
Just then, the ringing turns into the shriek/sonic boom of the Screamer.
Fiction book (1993) -
A shriek/sonic boom is immediately heard on the horizon, and it's the most god-awful noise we've ever heard.
Fiction book (1993)
Synonyms
Happens at speeds close to the speed of sound, just below or above it
Antonyms
Compounds
- Specialized
8
4.5
A loud, explosive sound made when something like a plane goes faster than sound
- Specialized
1
8.1
A sudden increase in air resistance when a plane nears the speed of sound
- Specialized
A device that uses sound waves to measure how deep water or things under it are
How Fast
- Specialized
4
7.8
12
6.7
- Specialized
- Specialized
14
6.2
- Specialized
4
6.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
sonic = son + ic
Built from 'son-' (sound) + '-ic'; the basic 'relating to sound' sense is clear from the morphology, but the specialized sense relating to speed at the speed of sound is a semantic extension not immediately derivable by all learners.
Etymology
Sonic also comes from the same root sonus 'sound', but in speed it means moving at about the speed of sound; that's why a 'sonic boom' is the loud sound made when something breaks the sound barrier.