Skip to main content
unamplified

unamplified

1 5.8
Not made louder by electronic sound equipment
  • adjective
  • /ˌʌnˈæmplɪfaɪd/
: no amplificado
  • Many people prefer unamplified music because it highlights the raw talent of the musicians.
  • unamplified classrooms

And you can hear all of that as I'm trying to tap unamplified, right?

Examples

  • They found improved speech perception in noise and improved classroom performance, as measured by a checklist rating scale, in the sound-field condition compared to classrooms in an unamplified condition.

    Academic text (2013)
  • And if they went whenever they were listening to music outside of church, it was either outside, which unamplified just sounds terrible.

  • But nobody can hear his unamplified voice over the recorded one from last night.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • The fact that Potts wasn't playing Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, or another venue designed for unamplified performance is significant in and of itself.

    Blog text (23)
  • Russell tunes his guitar, ripping through unamplified guitar licks as he speaks.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Data analysis showed that the students in the amplified classrooms demonstrated significantly greater improvement in listening and learning behaviors and skills, with improvements occurring at a faster rate than their peers in unamplified classrooms.

    Academic text (2013)
  • In this 3-year study involving 33 Florida school districts, listening and learning observational data were obtained in 64 classrooms with sound-field amplification systems and in 30 unamplified classrooms.

    Academic text (2013)
  • A good demonstration of acoustical amplification is to compare the robust sound of an acoustic guitar with the faint sound of an unamplified solid-body electric guitar, where the vibrating strings are not reinforced acoustically.

    Academic text (2004)
  • At the concert, the singer performed an unamplified version of her song, allowing the audience to hear her natural voice.

  • During the outdoor event, we listened to unamplified speeches that emphasized the speaker's passion.

How Loud

deafening
30 3.5
booming
12 3.4
loud
775 1.0
unamplified
1 5.8
to quiet
257 3.2
inaudible
547 5.6

Surface Forms

unamplified positive

Morphology

unamplified = amplified (transparent) = un + amplify + ed

The word is formed by adding the negative prefix 'un-' to 'amplified', so its meaning 'not amplified' is directly inferable.

Etymology

Unamplified breaks into un- meaning 'not' and amplified from amplify, which means 'to make louder' and is what an amp does. So, unamplified simply means 'not made louder' by electronic equipment.