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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Of or relating to sound, the sense of hearing, or the science of sound.
  2. adj. Designed to carry sound or to aid in hearing.
  3. adj. Designed to absorb or control sound: acoustic tile.
  4. adj. Music Of or being an instrument that does not produce or enhance sound electronically: an acoustic guitar; an acoustic bass.
  5. adj. Music Being a performance that features such instruments: opened the show with an acoustic set.
  6. n. Music An acoustic instrument.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Pertaining to the sense or organs of hearing, or to the science of sound.
  2. Same as acousmatic.
  3. n. In medicine, a remedy for deafness or imperfect hearing.
  4. n. Same as acousmatic.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Pertaining to the sense of hearing, the organs of hearing, or the science of sounds; auditory.
  2. adj. Naturally producing or produced by an instrument without electrical amplification, as an acoustic guitar or acoustic piano.
  3. n. A medicine or other agent to assist hearing.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Pertaining to the sense of hearing, the organs of hearing, or the science of sounds; auditory.
  2. n. A medicine or agent to assist hearing.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. of or relating to the science of acoustics
  2. n. a remedy for hearing loss or deafness

Etymologies

  1. Greek akoustikos, pertaining to hearing, from akouein, to hear; see kous- in Indo-European roots.

Examples

  • “Jordan has a choral singing background but prefers the term 'acoustic music' rather than 'folk' to describe her work.”

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph

  • “Villchur's development of what he called the acoustic suspension woofer made it possible for music lovers to buy loudspeakers that were domestically acceptable," Mr. Atkinson said in a 2009 interview.”

    NYT > Home Page

  • “The noises generated by ships create what I call acoustic smog," said Michel Andre, director of the Laboratory of Applied Bio-Acoustics in Barcelona.”

    Comments for Impact Lab

  • “They have set up a long-term acoustic monitoring device on the sea floor that will pick up marine mammal calls to help track the impact on population sizes over time.”

    The Guardian: Submerged oil plumes suggest gulf spill is worse than BP claims

  • “While surveying the calls of male frogs and toads engaged in acoustic displays for females, researchers recorded approximately 5,000 boreal chorus frogs, wood frogs and western toads at 54 beaver ponds over a two-year period.”

    Archive 2007-01-01

  • “With that said, I worry that the report might seem more promising that it is ... in acoustic terms, reducing noise by "50%" usually just means making a noise quieter by 10dB.”

    Piezofenestration

  • “Except for the door and soundproof window, the entire studio is lined in acoustic tile with strange Pollockian patterns of tiny holes.”

    Host

  • “For that reason it is frequently called the acoustic nerve ( "hear" G), or auditory nerve ( "hear" L).”

    The Human Brain

  • “These eerie silences were called "acoustic shadows.”

    NYT > Home Page

  • “On Monday, one can attend a screening of F.W. Murnau's silent horror classic "Nosferatu" at BAMcinématek in Brooklyn, with a live score by the Norwegian performer Svarte Greiner, the innovator of an ambient music subgenre called "acoustic doom.”

    The Wall Street Journal: Playing It Unsafe at the Unsound Festival

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Comments

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  • Alexis Perez Relating to a musical instrument whose sound is not electronically changed. John Lennon played an acoustic guitar. (newbury dic.) Dec 6, 2010

‘acoustic’ has been looked up 1256 times, loved by 1 person, added to 24 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 12.