Definition

1. Verb:
   • To sound in sympathy; to produce a sympathetic or harmonious sound, especially in response to another sound. This is a technical term, often used in phonetics, music, or acoustics to describe a secondary vibration or resonance that occurs in sympathy with a primary sound source.

Usage

• This verb is intransitive (it does not take a direct object). It describes the action of an object or body producing a sound because it is vibrating in resonance with another sound.
• It is a specialized, somewhat rare term, most commonly found in academic or technical writing rather than everyday conversation.

Examples

• Verb:
  • The thin glass began to consonate at the precise pitch of the singer's voice.
  • In phonetics, the nasal cavity may consonate during the production of certain speech sounds.
  • The unplayed violin string started to consonate softly as the orchestra played the same note.

Advanced Usage

• Technical Context (Phonetics): Describes when a passive articulator (like the nasal cavity) resonates during the production of a speech sound (e.g., a nasal consonant like /m/ or /n/).
  • During the articulation of /n/, the oral cavity is blocked, causing air to escape and the nasal cavity to consonate.
• Technical Context (Music/Acoustics): Describes the phenomenon of sympathetic resonance, where one object vibrates and produces sound because it shares the natural frequency of a nearby sounding object.
  • The tuning fork caused the piano string to consonate faintly.

Variants and Related Words

• Consonance (n): 1. Agreement or compatibility between opinions or actions. 2. (Music) A combination of notes that are in harmony with each other due to the relationship of their frequencies. 3. (Poetry) The repetition of consonant sounds.
• Consonant (adj): 1. In agreement or harmony with. 2. (Music) Denoting a note that is part of a consonance.
• Consonant (n): (Phonetics) A basic speech sound in which the breath is at least partly obstructed.

Synonyms

• Resonate
• Vibrate sympathetically
• Harmonize (in a sonic context)

Antonyms

• Dissonate (to produce dissonance; a very rare verb)
• Clash (in a sonic context)

Verb

1. sound in sympathy