sonar

CEFRB2

/ˈsoʊ.nɑːɹ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A system using sound waves to find objects underwater.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A device that provides such echolocation.

Examples

  • Sonar is short for Sound Navigation and Ranging.

  • Sonar uses sound waves to 'see' in the water.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1

Also pronounced

  • /ˈsəʊ.nɑː/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Any echolocation.

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

More examples

In context

  • Submarines and bats both use sonar to navigate.

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

  • They were able to detect the sunken wreck using sonar.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The submarine uses blank to navigate and find targets underwater with sound waves.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

By anacronymic evolution from SONAR.