Standard Lemma guide

vocalism

noun · 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

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.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Speaking or singing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The vowel sounds used in a language.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The vowels, sequence of vowels, or the quality peculiar to the vowels of a given word or group of words.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the sound made by the vibration of vocal folds modified by the resonance of the vocal tract

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a singer takes good care of his voice
  • the giraffe cannot make any vocalizations

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: voice, vocalization, vocalisation, phonation, vox

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: communication

Narrower terms: singing voice, sprechgesang, sprechstimme, voice over

5

noun

Meaning 5

the system of vowels used in a particular language

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: vowel system

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: phonemic system

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wekw-der. Proto-Indo-European *wṓkws Proto-Italic *wōks Latin vōx Proto-Indo-European *h2el-der.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin vōcālisbor. Middle English vocal English vocal Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English vocalism From vocal + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

11 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ձայնավորում (jaynavorum) — The vowel sounds used in a language
  • Finnish: vokaalisto — The vowel sounds used in a language
  • French: vocalisme — The vowel sounds used in a language
  • German: Vokalismus — The vowel sounds used in a language
  • Italian: vocalismo — The vowel sounds used in a language
  • Kyrgyz: обончулук (obonculuk) — The vowel sounds used in a language
  • Polish: wokalizm — The vowel sounds used in a language
  • Portuguese: vocalismo — The vowel sounds used in a language
  • Romanian: vocalism — The vowel sounds used in a language
  • Russian: вокали́зм (vokalízm) — The vowel sounds used in a language
  • Spanish: vocalismo — The vowel sounds used in a language