sonar

• SONAR (dated)

By anacronymic evolution from SONAR.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsoʊ.nɑːɹ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsəʊ.nɑː/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

sonar (countable and uncountable, plural sonars)

2. (nautical, usually uncountable) Artificial echolocation by use of electronic equipment, with hydrophones to locate objects underwater, using the same wave-analysis principles that radar uses.

   Synonym: ASDIC (historical)

   Hypernym: imaging

   Hyponyms: Doppler sonar, active sonar

   Coordinate terms: sodar (uses sound waves in the air), radar (uses radio waves), lidar (uses light waves); ultrasonography (uses sound waves)

   They were able to detect the sunken wreck using sonar.

3. (nautical, countable) A device that provides such echolocation.

   Hypernym: device

   Hyponyms: Doppler sonar, active sonar

   They finally bought a new sonar to replace the 40-year-old unit that sometimes didn't work right.

4. (loosely) Any echolocation.

   Hyponyms: biosonar, Doppler sonar, active sonar

   Submarines and bats both use sonar to navigate.

• Arons, saron, orans, sorna, Sanor, Rasŏn, roans, arson, Naros, Rason

Inherited from Old Catalan sonar, from Latin sonāre.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [suˈna]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [soˈna]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [soˈnaɾ]

sonar (first-person singular present sono, first-person singular preterite soní, past participle sonat); root stress: (Central, Valencia, Balearic) /ɔ/

1. (intransitive) to sound, to make a sound
2. (intransitive) to ring, to buzz
3. (figurative, intransitive) to ring a bell

   Em sona la seva cara. ― His face looks familiar.

• resonar
• so

Borrowed from English sonar.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [suˈnar]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [soˈnar]

sonar m (uncountable)

1. sonar

• “sonar”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “sonar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “sonar” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “sonar”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Borrowed from English sonar.

• IPA^(key): [ˈsoːˌnɑˀ], [soˈnɑˀ]

sonar c (singular definite sonaren, plural indefinite sonarer)

1. sonar

• “sonar” in Den Danske Ordbog

Borrowed from English sonar.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsoː.nɑr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: so‧nar
• Rhymes: -oːnɑr

sonar m (plural sonars, no diminutive)

1. sonar

Borrowed from English sonar.

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

sonar m (plural sonars)

1. sonar

• → Romanian: sonar
• → Turkish: sonar

• “sonar”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

sonar

1. indefinite genitive singular of sonur

From Esperanto soni (“to sound”), French sonner, Italian suonare, Spanish sonar, ultimately from Latin sonō (“to make a noise”).

sonar (present tense sonas, past tense sonis, future tense sonos, imperative sonez, conditional sonus)

1. to ring

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

sonar

1. to call (to name or refer to)

   Synonyms: cridar, apelar

sonar

1. genitive singular of sonr

Borrowed from English sonar.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔ.nar/
• Rhymes: -ɔnar
• Syllabification: so‧nar

sonar m inan

1. (nautical) sonar (device for locating objects underwater)

   Synonym: asdic

• “sonar”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[1] (in Polish)

Borrowed from English sonar.

• Hyphenation: so‧nar

sonar m (plural sonares)

1. (nautical) sonar (technique and device that uses sound propagation to detect underwater objects)

• “sonar”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “sonar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French sonar.

sonar n (plural sonare)

1. sonar

Borrowed from English sonar.

• IPA^(key): /sǒnaːr/
• Hyphenation: so‧nar

sònār m inan (Cyrillic spelling со̀на̄р)

1. sonar

• IPA^(key): /soˈnaɾ/ [soˈnaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: so‧nar

Inherited from Old Spanish sonar, inherited from Latin sonāre, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂- (“to sound, resound”).

sonar (first-person singular present sueno, first-person singular preterite soné, past participle sonado)

1. (intransitive) to sound, to ring
   • 2014, “Suena La Alarma”, performed by Daddy Yankee:

     Suena la alarma, que mi nena esta robándose el show / Oh síguelo

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (intransitive) to sound (appear)

   Suena como que ya te has decidido.

   It sounds like your mind is made up.

   Suena como si no tuviéramos otra opción.

   It sounds like we don't have any other choice.

3. (figuratively, intransitive) to ring a bell, to be familiar

   Me suena el nombre, pero no lo ubico.

   His name rings a bell but I can't place him.

4. (transitive) to make sound, to play

   Synonym: tocar

   sonar la bocina ― to sound the horn

5. (transitive, reflexive) to blow one's nose

   Despues de estornudar, me soné la nariz.

   After I sneezed, I blew my nose.

Borrowed from English sonar.

sonar m (plural sonares)

1. sonar (a device that uses hydrophones to locate objects underwater)

• sónar

• “sonar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

sonar c

1. (nautical) sonar (echolocation)
2. (nautical) a sonar (device)

sonar

1. present indicative of sona

• “sonar”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “sonar”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “sonar”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

• Arons, nosar, sorna

From Latin sonāre. Compare Italian suonare.

sonar

1. (transitive) to play, sound

* Venetan conjugation varies from one region to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.