sound

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Something that you hear; what is produced by vibrations and heard by the ear.

   We strained to hear the faint sound of the owl's wings.

2. 2
   adj

   Sensible, reliable, and likely to be correct.

   She gave me some sound advice about choosing a career.

3. 3
   adj

   In good condition; healthy and not damaged.

   The old bridge is still structurally sound.

4. 4
   adj

   Safe and secure, especially financially.

   They made several sound investments over the years.

Common collocations

• sound sleep Adjective + noun

* Noun: from Middle English sownde, alteration of soun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman sun, soun, Old French son, from accusative of Latin sonus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂- (“to sound, resound”). * Verb: from Middle English sownden, sounen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman suner, sounder, Old French soner (modern sonner), from Latin sonō. * The hypercorrect -d appears in the fifteenth century. (Compare dialectal drownd, gownd for the same development.) Displaced native Middle English swei, from Old English swēġ, from Proto-Germanic *swōgiz.

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