audio
- 01 A2 Elementary
n.the sound that you hear from a computer, phone, or television.
n.the sound or sound signal produced by or recorded on electrical or digital equipment. Often uncountable when referring to the signal itself.
Simple“The video was great, but the audio was too quiet to hear clearly.”
In context“The engineer spent hours cleaning up the background noise in the audio to ensure the speaker's voice was crisp and professional.”
UsageOften used as an uncountable noun when referring to the signal or quality of sound.
- 02 B1 Intermediate
n.a specific piece of recorded sound, like a voice message or a song file.
n.a discrete digital recording of sound. Countable in the context of individual files or clips.
Simple“She sent me an audio of her singing the new song.”
In context“The journalist uploaded several audios from the interview to the cloud for the transcription team to access immediately.”
UsageUsed as a countable noun when referring to individual digital clips or files.
- 03 B1 Intermediate
adj.describing things that involve sound or the equipment used for sound.
adj.relating to the transmission, reception, or reproduction of sound.
Simple“He bought some expensive audio equipment for his home cinema.”
In context“The museum provided an audio guide that explained the history of each painting as visitors walked through the gallery.”
Usage audio recordings
“The documents indicate that agents made audio recordings of the events.”
“Anything may happen, but I still have to go,” the 78-year-old said via audio link.”
Clipping of audio-. Cognates include Sanskrit आविस् (āvís, “manifestly, evidently”) and Ancient Greek αἰσθάνομαι (aisthánomai, “perceive, notice”) whence English aesthetic.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.