Soundex

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A phonetic algorithm for indexing names by their English pronunciation, based on the most probably significant consonants, so that a search for a misspelled name may find the desired one.

    "Basically, the Soundex algorithm converts each string into an alphanumeric code that begins with the first letter of the string."

  2. 2
    Alternative letter-case form of Soundex. alt-of

    "The soundex algorithm is the most well-known phonetic algorithm."

Verb
  1. 1
    To index using the phonetic Soundex algorithm. transitive

Example

More examples

"Basically, the Soundex algorithm converts each string into an alphanumeric code that begins with the first letter of the string."

Etymology

Blend of sound + index.

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