sonorous

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, is it sonorous? Don’t be thrown off by the subtle tweak in this classic conundrum—which usually ends with “does it make a sound?”—it’s still the same question. Sonorous, in its oldest sense, simply describes things that make a sound when struck (the word’s Latin ancestor, sonorus, is related to sonus, meaning “sound”). By this definition, felled firs, windblown willows, etc., are all sonorous. A desktop tapped by a pencil eraser wouldn’t normally be described as sonorous, however. The word is usually reserved for things that make a deep, loud, booming, or echoing sound—think timpanis (or toppling timber), not tables. Sonorous is also frequently used to describe sounds themselves, as well as voices, that are deep, loud, and pleasant. And as sonorous sounds often cause one to sit up and take notice, sonorous can also mean “imposing or impressive in effect or style,” as when describing particularly affecting speech or prose.