verb · 5 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
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US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Australian:/ˈɹez.əˌnæɪt/
CMU ARPABET:R EH1 Z AH0 N EY2 T
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
verb
Meaning 1
To vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
The books on top of the piano resonate when he plays certain notes.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
verb
Meaning 2
To have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
Examples
His words resonated with the crowd.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
verb
Meaning 3
To agree or sympathise, not necessarily perfectly, usually with an emotion, an attitude, or an intellectual position.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
Examples
The human propensity to resonate emotionally with others.
1976 Professor Rosenblith: U.S. DEPARTMENT of Health, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE DHEW Publication No. (NIH) 76-1138 Proceedings of Conferences I think the tone of concern, both within the outer and the inner circle here,. . . is obviously something that I resonate with. We're dealing with problems in decision-making and uncertainty...
1989 J. Giles Milhaven: Good Anger. →ISBN Their readers certainly gain if they are ready to understand and feel with them in their poetry. When I read their text, I gain. I resonate with their wrath. I taste some of their sore satisfaction. I join respectfully the murderous fury they feel and express at brutal abuse... On the face of it, it is damn' peculiar. We approve and resonate with this individual's passion to get revenge. We would disapprove and be horrified by their actual getting it.
1995 Handbook of spirituality for ministers: ed. Robert J. Wicks →ISBN I am frequently asked why the topic has assumed such major importance in Christian spirituality ... I resonate with the question. In my own Jesuit formation-largely before the council—I received no introduction to discernment. This is doubly strange since our founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola, is the source of most current discussions with the "Rules of the Discernment of Spirits" found in his book... I often look to his life to find meaning for my own. I see how he had to have his solitude time and how he looked with love upon people in his work world... I resonate with the stories which tell of his human side: too weary to go into the village with the disciples to buy food, attempting to get away by boat from the crowds who continually surrounded him with their needs...
1997 Linda Hogan: Conversations with American novelists / ed Kay Bonetti et al. →ISBN I walk every day, out around there, but I don't have the same connection to it that I do to the land in Oklahoma. I always say it's as if Oklahoma was my home before I was born. I feel a profound sense of connection to that place. The land that I resonate with is there.
1997 Paths of Faithfulness Ed. Carol Ochs. →ISBN While I resonate with this mystical process — often even yearn for it, trying bits of it on my own — it's not so easy for me. I am not a mystic. I do not feel capable of such mystical pursuits.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
verb
Meaning 4
be received or understood
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: come across
Antonyms: none provided
Narrower terms: strike a chord
5
verb
Meaning 5
sound with resonance
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
The sound resonates well in this theater
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: vibrate
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: sound, go
Narrower terms: purr, make vibrant sounds
History
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re- Proto-Indo-European *swenh2- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *swonh2éyeti Proto-Italic *swonaō Latin sonō Latin resonōbor. English resonate Borrowed from Latin resonō.
Across languages
Translations
29 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Bulgarian:
резонирам
(rezoniram)
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Dutch:
resoneren
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Finnish:
värähdellä
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Finnish:
värähdellä mukana
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Finnish:
resonoida
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
French:
résonner
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
German:
schwingen
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
German:
mitschwingen
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
German:
nachhallen
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Irish:
athshon
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Italian:
risuonare
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Macedonian:
резони́ра
(rezoníra)
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Māori:
tōiri
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Māori:
tōiriiri
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Portuguese:
ressoar
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Romanian:
răsuna
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Russian:
резони́ровать
(rezonírovatʹ)
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Spanish:
resonar
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Spanish:
retiñir
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Ukrainian:
резонува́ти
(rezonuváty)
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Vietnamese:
cộng hưởng
— to vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration
Finnish:
vaikuttaa
— to have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
Finnish:
saada vastakaikua
— to have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
Finnish:
saada kannatusta
— to have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
German:
einen Widerhall finden
— to have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
Indonesian:
melekat
— to have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
Italian:
accordarsi
— to have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
Italian:
concordare
— to have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
Spanish:
resonar
— to have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support
