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''auditory'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''auditory'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260904152658-00-⌔

auditory - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

auditory (not comparable)

  • Of, or relating to hearing, or to the sense or organs of hearing.
    • ✤ Synonyms: otic, acoustic, aural, auricular

Noun

auditory (plural auditories)

  • (archaic) Synonym of audience.
    • ✤ …and because though these learned Gentlemen (sayes he, turning to his two friends) need not fear to discourse before any Auditory…1
    • ✤ Preaching of Sermons is Speaking to a few of Mankind: Printing of Books is Talking to the whole World. The Parson Prescribes himself, and addresses to the particular Auditory with the Appellation of My Brethren; but he that Prints a Book, ought to Preface it with a Noverint Universi, Know all Men by these Presents. The proper Inference drawn from this remarkable Observation, is, That tho’ he that Preaches from the Pulpit ought to be careful of his Words, that nothing pass from him but with an especial Sanction of Truth; yet he that Prints and Publishes to all the World, has a tenfold Obligation.2
    • ✤ A general murmur of assent arose from his little auditory.3
  • (archaic) Synonym of auditorium.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈɔː.dɪ.tə.ɹi/, /ˈɔː.dɪ.tɹi/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • (General American) IPA: /ˈɔː.dɪˌtɔɹ.i/
    • (cot–caught merger) IPA: /ˈɑː.dɪˌtɔɹ.i/
  • Rhymes: -ɔːdɪtəɹi

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin audītōrius (“pertaining to a hearer or hearing”), from audiō (“to hear”) +‎ -tōrius (“-tory”, adjectival suffix).

Etymology 2

From Latin audītōrium (“the place where something is heard; the assembled hearers”).

Printed 2026-09-04.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1661, Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist ‎, page 7: ↩

  2. 1704, Daniel Defoe, “Preface”, in The Storm: Or, a Collection of the Most Remarkable Casualties and Disasters which Happen’d in the Late Dreadful Tempest, Both by Sea and Land ‎, J. Nutt: ↩

  3. 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 26: ↩

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Secondary

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