sonorous

• sonourous (rare)

Borrowed from Latin sonorus, from sonor (“sound”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɒn.əɹ.əs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑːn.ɚ.əs/, /ˈsoʊ.nə.ɹəs/

• Audio (US)

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sonorous (comparative more sonorous, superlative most sonorous)

1. Capable of giving out a deep, resonant sound.
   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Mercury de Breze”, in Henry Duff Traill, editor, The French Revolution, a History, the Bastille‎, volume 2, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, The Third Estate, page 162:

     The Oath is redacted ; pronounced aloud by President Bailly, — and indeed in such a sonorous tone, that the cloud of witnesses, even outdoors, hear it, and bellow response to it.

2. Full of sound and rich, as in language or verse.
   • 1761, Joseph Addison, The Works of the Late Right Honorable Joseph Addison, Esq., Birmingham: John Baskerville for J. and R. Tonson, OCLC 2078055, pages 32–33:

     For this reason the Italian opera seldom sinks into a poorness of language, but, amidst all the meanness and familiarity of the thoughts, has something beautiful and sonorous in the expression.

   • 1859 July 25, Edward Everett, “Rufus Choate. Tributes to the Memory of the Hon. Rufus Choate”, in The New York Times, page 2:

     There is nothing of the artificial Johnsonian balance in his style. It is as often marked by a pregnant brevity as by a sonorous amplitude.

3. Wordy or grandiloquent.
4. (linguistics, phonetics) Produced with a relatively open vocal tract and relatively little obstruction of airflow.
   • 2001, Michael Dobrovolsky, “Phonetics: The Sounds of Language”, in William O'Grady, John Archibald, Mark Aronoff, and Janie Rees-Miller, editors, Contemporary Linguistics, →ISBN, page 21:

     Vowels are more sonorous (acoustically powerful) than consonants, and so we perceive them as louder and lasting longer.

• sonorant
• sonority
• sonorously
• sonorousness