sounding board
4
4.2
- noun
- /ˈsaʊndɪŋ bɔrd/
:
consejero
- Having a mentor who can provide feedback is invaluable; they serve as a sounding board for your thoughts.
- serve as a sounding board
My husband is my best, my best friend and my sounding board.
- My husband is my best, my best friend and my sounding board.
- You might be a soothing, empathic and solution focused sounding board.
- But when this gets into spaces like healthcare or therapy, we believe these should be safe sounding boards where we will be heard.
- Watch out for somebody trying to lure you into giving advice versus being a great sounding board, helping them discover the answer on their own.
- Like I have seen every side of the business and I always think, you know, why would you not take a sounding board?
- to pursue for something like this a sounding board that you may have to pay for, you know, if you don't have someone in your life.
- If it's not this companion and this sounding board and someone who believes in you and can hold your hand as you fight your own battles.
- Even then, I was convinced he would stay on as chairman, that he would step back from the day-to-day but always be there as a sounding board.
- But also I've got an amazing partner with me, a sounding board who's asking me the the right questions that because, you know, she doesn't know what I'm working on.
- And then kind of being a, a, a sounding board for that like volleyball match, right, right.
- So I used it as a way to kind of like have a, a sort of like a sounding board.
Examples
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First, the new teachers described the helpfulness of having the university professors as non-judgmental sounding boards, knowing the professors wanted them to be successful.
Academic text (2012) -
Grady was a wonderful sounding board, the best person she knew to brainstorm with.
Fiction book (1995) -
If not, do not use them as a sounding board for your idea.
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But I was a sounding board too, and that made me feel grown up.
Fiction book (1994) -
It's just so nice to have a neutral sounding board, you know, that can help you think through things or even just listen to you.
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Nurses can serve as a sounding board for the patients.
Academic text (2006) -
She's a pretty good sounding board for a couple of ideas of mine.
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There are definitely avenues of life right now where I could use a good sounding board.
Blog text (25) -
Not only do guest speakers provide topical coverage on key facets of high-tech entrepreneurship, they act as invaluable sounding boards for student product pitches.
Academic text (2017) -
Before making her final choice, she wanted a trusted friend to act as a sounding board for her ideas.
How Supportive
Surface Forms
Morphology
sounding + board
The sense 'a person whose opinions are used to test or develop ideas' is a metaphorical extension: 'sounding' relates to testing/producing sound and 'board' to a surface, but mapping those literal constituents onto a person is not directly predictable. A B1 learner who knows the words individually would likely not reliably infer the idiomatic interpersonal meaning without prior exposure, so the item is partially transparent but requires familiarity.
Etymology
Sounding board comes from that same musical image: a board takes in sound and sends it back, so a person who listens to your ideas does a similar job. That's why calling someone a 'sounding board' means they help you 'test' or 'develop' ideas by giving feedback.