noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A system resembling sonar but used in the air, for meteorological measurements, rather than in water. uncountable
2. 2
   A type of system using such a method, differentiated by platform, configuration, frequency, power, and other technical attributes. countable
3. 3
   An installation of such a system or of the transmitting and receiving apparatus. countable

Etymology

Short for sonic detection and ranging; compare radar, sonar.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.