sound bite
53
4.0
- noun
- /ˈsaʊnd baɪt/
- Literature
:
cita breve
- Knowledge about these issues is necessarily oversimplified by the sound-bite approach to news coverage and political debate.
- make a sound bite
- a second sound bite
They just want their sound bite of you being a monster.
- They just want their sound bite of you being a monster.
- That's the only sound bite Donald Trump needs to win.
- Oh, that's the sound bite right there.
- And then we have another great sound bite.
- We saw something in you well beyond sound bites.
- I'm going to hand them a sound bite that will fit in their time slot.
- OK, so right, this is the sound bite, right?
- Like here, I guess I just hear like sound bites pulled and stuff.
- You've got to learn to speak in sound bites.
- But I mean, also shout out to whoever created that sound bite.
- And I said, great, he said, but this is CNN, so you only get a sound bite.
Examples
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And I got the only sound bite from Jimmy after he was fired.
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But we'll play you the sound bite in which this issue came up.
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I want everyone to list their favorite sound bite that we use.
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Not much in our conversation had a sound bite quality to it.
Academic text (2004) -
And one sound bite, it's not really going to give that much depth.
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You are too used to reading the sound bites and not doing your own research.
Blog text (13) -
Experts who best meet the sound bite imperative are the most likely to be used again.
Academic text (2000) -
You need your own quotes, your own sound bites in your business because it allows you to be quoted.
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Well, in the news this week is a sound bite of Nancy Pelosi.
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In his recent speech, the senator delivered a memorable sound bite that captured the audience's attention.
Synonyms
526
1.9
A short piece of video or sound taken from a longer recording
31
4.1
A short memorable part of a speech or interview that news shows use
How Long
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components give a partial clue: 'sound' (audio) plus 'bite' used metaphorically for a small piece suggests a short piece of audio, but the noun sense 'bite' meaning 'short extract' is figurative and not the most salient meaning for learners. Understanding the exact journalistic/political sense (a catchy short clip) requires some cultural or register knowledge, so the relation is visible but not fully predictable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Sound bite comes from radio and TV news, where reporters needed very short pieces of speech for broadcasts. Think of taking a small bite from a long sound, a tiny memorable clip, so it now means 'a short extract' used on the news.