English Explanatory Dictionary

vocal

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling the human voice or speech.
  2. Used in the production of speech sounds.
  3. Relating to, composed or arranged for, or sung by the human voice.
  4. Consisting of, or characterized by, voice, or tone produced in the larynx, which may be modified, either by resonance, as in the case of the vowels, or by obstructive action, as in certain consonants, such as v, l, etc., or by both, as in the nasals m, n, ng.
  5. Synonym of vocalic.
  6. Uttered or modulated by the voice; expressed in words.
  7. Expressing opinions or feelings freely, loudly, or insistently.
  8. Having or exercising the power of producing voice, speech, or sound.
  9. Synonym of expressive.
  10. Full of voices.
noun
  1. A vocal sound; specifically, a purely vocal element of speech, unmodified except by resonance; a vowel or a diphthong; a tonic element; a tonic.
  2. A part of a piece of music that is sung.
  3. A musical performance involving singing.
  4. A man in the Roman Catholic Church who has a right to vote in certain elections.

Pronunciation

/ˈvəʊ̯.kəl/ [ˈvəʊ̯.kl̩] LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-vocal.wav /ˈvoʊ̯.kəl/ /ˈvɔʊ̯.kəl/ [ˈvoʊ̯.kl̩] [ˈvɔʊ̯.kl̩] /ˈvəʉ̯.kəl/ [ˈvəʉ̯.kl̩]

Word forms

vocal more vocal most vocal vocals

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 Late Middle English vocal, borrowed from Latin vōcālis (“uttering a voice, sounding, speaking”), from vōx (“a voice, sound, tone”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of vowel and vocalis. Compare Old French vocal.

Synonyms

sonant intonated voiced vocalic oral audible outspoken loud spoken expressive resounding song

Antonyms

inaudible quiet silent voiceless

Related words

vocable vocabulary vocalist vocalization vocalize vocation voice vowel

Derived words

audiovocal bivocal cricovocal monovocal nonvocal polyvocal semivocal subvocal unvocal vocal blackface vocal cord vocal chord vocal fold vocal fremitus vocal fry vocalism vocalist vocality vocalize vocalise vocally vocal minority vocal music vocalness vocal sac vocal tract vocal tube gang vocal off vocal vocalic vocalese

Translations

Albanian: vokal Arabic: صَوْتِيّ Armenian: վոկալ Azerbaijani: vokal Belarusian: вака́льны Belarusian: галасавы́ Bengali: কণ্ঠ্য Bengali: গেয় Bulgarian: вока́лен Bulgarian: гласов Catalan: vocal Czech: hlasový Czech: vokální Dutch: vocal Dutch: stem Esperanto: vokalo Finnish: laulu French: vocal Galician: vocal Georgian: ვოკალური Georgian: სახმო German: stimmhaft German: stimmlich German: mündlich Greek: φωνητικός Ancient Greek: φθεγκτικός Hindi: स्वर Hungarian: vokál Indonesian: vokal Indonesian: lisan Irish: gutha Italian: vocale Kannada: ಉಚ್ಚಾರದ Kannada: ಧ್ವನಿ Kazakh: вокалды Kazakh: вокалдық Latvian: vokāls Latvian: balss Macedonian: гла́совен Macedonian: во́кален Malay: vokal Maltese: vokali Norwegian: vokal Polish: głosowy Polish: wokalny Portuguese: vocal Portuguese: vocálico Russian: вока́льный Russian: голосово́й Slovak: vokálny Slovak: hlasový Slovene: vokal Spanish: vocal Swahili: mwimbaji Swedish: vokal Tagalog: ukol sa tinig Tagalog: pantinig Tagalog: maabla Turkish: vokal
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on V Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary