Reverberation
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A violent oscillation or vibration. countable, uncountable
"The discomfort caused by the bat's reverberation surprised Tommy."
- 2 the repetition of a sound resulting from reflection of the sound waves wordnet
- 3 An echo, or a series of overlapping echoes. countable, uncountable
"The reverberation that followed Marilyn's shout filled the cavern."
- 4 a remote or indirect consequence of some action wordnet
- 5 The reflection of light or heat; a reflection in, or as though in, a mirror. countable, uncountable
"Like the several reverberations of the same image from two opposite looking glasses."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 An evolving series of effects resulting from a particular event; a repercussion. countable, in-plural, uncountable
"Reverberations from the Vietnam war affect our society to this day."
Example
More examples"The translator's task is to find the power in their language that evokes an echo of the originals; the echo of the translator's language must also provide a reverberation of the work, the echo of the foreign language."
Etymology
From Old French reverberation, from Medieval Latin reverberatio. Morphologically reverberate + -ion.
Related phrases
More for "reverberation"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.