Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of or relating to sound, the sense of hearing, or the science of sound.
- adj. Designed to carry sound or to aid in hearing.
- adj. Designed to absorb or control sound: acoustic tile.
- adj. Music Of or being an instrument that does not produce or enhance sound electronically: an acoustic guitar; an acoustic bass.
- adj. Music Being a performance that features such instruments: opened the show with an acoustic set.
- n. Music An acoustic instrument.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pertaining to the sense or organs of hearing, or to the science of sound.
- Same as acousmatic.
- n. In medicine, a remedy for deafness or imperfect hearing.
- n. Same as acousmatic.
Wiktionary
- adj. Pertaining to the sense of hearing, the organs of hearing, or the science of sounds; auditory.
- adj. Naturally producing or produced by an instrument without electrical amplification, as an acoustic guitar or acoustic piano.
- n. A medicine or other agent to assist hearing.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Pertaining to the sense of hearing, the organs of hearing, or the science of sounds; auditory.
- n. A medicine or agent to assist hearing.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. of or relating to the science of acoustics
- n. a remedy for hearing loss or deafness
Etymologies
- 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.”
“The noises generated by ships create what I call acoustic smog," said Michel Andre, director of the Laboratory of Applied Bio-Acoustics in Barcelona.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Except for the door and soundproof window, the entire studio is lined in acoustic tile with strange Pollockian patterns of tiny holes.”
“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.”
“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
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘acoustic’.
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music genre
list of music genres - anything. even the most obscure sub-genres of sub-genres
twee pop, indie, shoegaze, doo-wop, punk, rock, jazz, pop, classical, hard rock, emo, goth and 161 more...
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Musikgenres
indietronic, shoegaze, antifolk, freak-folk, dance punk, dubstep, indie, electro, house, minimalist, underground, drum'n'base and 74 more...
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November Words-11337
fiscal, assuage, prolix, shroud, laconic, paucity, mollify, nascent, burgeon, turgid, absenteeism, guise and 38 more...
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"IC" ending words
pendantic, elastic, autistic, archiac, civic, eccentric, aspic, basic, caustic, acoustic, anemic, antic and 16 more...
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Music lingo
unsyncopated rhythms, tonal harmonies, ambient soundscapes, bass line, synths, mellow, trippy, instrumental, vocal harmony, vamping, tonality, riff and 47 more...
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acou-, acoust-
hearing; sound

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