Standard Lemma guide

aurally

adv · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈɔːɹ.əl.i/
  • General-American: /ˈoɹ.ə.li/
  • General-American:
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adv

Meaning 1

Pertaining to sound or the ear; via or through the sense of hearing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • While the flashy special effects were nice, the movie was aurally jarring, loud and displeasing in general to the ear.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adverb

Meaning 2

with regard to sound or the ear

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the new musical was visually and aurally appealing

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English aural Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Middle English -ly English -ly English aurally From aural + -ly.

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Russian: на слух (na slux) — Perceived by the ear
  • Spanish: auditivamente — Perceived by the ear