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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

sonar.

Artificial echolocation by use of electronic equipment, with hydrophones to locate objects underwater, using the same wave-analysis principles that radar uses.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈsoʊ.nɑːɹ/General-American/ˈsəʊ.nɑː/Received-Pronunciation
  1. Artificial echolocation by use of electronic equipment, with hydrophones to locate objects underwater, using the same wave-analysis principles that radar uses.

    uncountable · usually
    They were able to detect the sunken wreck using sonar.
  2. A device that provides such echolocation.

    countable
    They finally bought a new sonar to replace the 40-year-old unit that sometimes didn't work right.
  3. Any echolocation.

    broadly · countable · uncountable
    Submarines and bats both use sonar to navigate.
Where this word comes from

By anacronymic evolution from SONAR.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.