echoing

Meanings

1. 1adjectivebefore a noun

   Sending sound back so that it is heard again, or so full of reflected sound that voices seem to repeat.

   Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: an echoing hall, echoing footsteps.

   Patterns

   • an echoing hall
   • echoing with something

   Their footsteps made an echoing sound along the empty corridor.

   The echoing cavern amplified every whisper.

   We walked into the echoing station after the last train had gone.

2. 2adjectivebefore a nounfigurative

   Repeating or closely matching something said or done earlier, so that it reminds you of it.

   Grammar: Figurative use, often in writing about ideas, phrases or events that return.

   Patterns

   • echoing something
   • echoing the words of someone

   His closing line, echoing the opening of the film, brought the story full circle.

   The senator gave an echoing endorsement of the proposal, repeating her colleague's key points.

   Protesters carried banners echoing slogans from earlier generations.

Common combinations

echoing hall

Our voices bounced around the echoing hall.

echoing footsteps

The echoing footsteps on the stone stairs told us someone was coming.

echoing silence

An echoing silence followed the announcement.

echoing laughter

Echoing laughter drifted across the lake.

echoing the words of

Echoing the words of her mentor, she told the class to question everything.

Synonyms and how they differ

reverberating

Reverberating describes a deeper, longer-lasting vibration of sound, while echoing means it is repeated back.

resounding

Resounding stresses a loud, filling sound and is often used figuratively, as in a resounding victory, which echoing is not.

ringing

Ringing suggests a clear bell-like tone that continues, rather than a repeated reflection.

booming

Booming is only about deep loudness, while echoing is about the repeating of sound.

Opposites

Word family

echo noun

a sound heard again after bouncing off a surface

echo verb

to send back sound or repeat something

echoey adjective

informal word for a room with a lot of echo

echoic adjective

formed in imitation of a sound, as in an echoic word like buzz

Commonly confused: echoing or resounding?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “echoing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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