"by the sound of it" meaning in English

See by the sound of it in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase|head=}} by the sound of it, {{en-PP}} by the sound of it
  1. Apparently. Synonyms: by the look of it, by the looks of things
    Sense id: en-by_the_sound_of_it-en-prep_phrase-Bly5r7Sz Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "by the sound of it",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "by the sound of it",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 153:",
          "text": "Tom adored to give pleasure while Gore has always liked to boast that he has never knowingly or intentionally gratified any of his partners. Not even a sighing reach-around by the sound of it.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Sabine C. Bauer, Stargate SG-1: Transitions, Fandemonium Books (2011), unnumbered pages",
          "text": "By the sound of it, the ever obliging Agent Barrett didn't really feel like obliging. Else he was too sleep-drunk to string two rational thoughts together."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, John le Carré, A Delicate Truth, Penguin UK, →ISBN:",
          "text": "His name was Toby Bell and he was entirely alone in his criminal contemplations. [ - - - ] As to the Toby, which might by the sound of it set him higher on the English social ladder than his provenance deserved, it derived from nothing more elevated than his father's pride in the holy man Tobias, whose wondrous filial virtues are set down in the ancient scripts.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Frank sighed, and replied, “I know, Dad. It was stupid of me. But by the sound of it you are about to do something stupid too.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Apparently."
      ],
      "id": "en-by_the_sound_of_it-en-prep_phrase-Bly5r7Sz",
      "links": [
        [
          "Apparently",
          "apparently"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "by the look of it"
        },
        {
          "word": "by the looks of things"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "by the sound of it"
}
{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "by the sound of it",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "by the sound of it",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English prepositional phrases",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 153:",
          "text": "Tom adored to give pleasure while Gore has always liked to boast that he has never knowingly or intentionally gratified any of his partners. Not even a sighing reach-around by the sound of it.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Sabine C. Bauer, Stargate SG-1: Transitions, Fandemonium Books (2011), unnumbered pages",
          "text": "By the sound of it, the ever obliging Agent Barrett didn't really feel like obliging. Else he was too sleep-drunk to string two rational thoughts together."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, John le Carré, A Delicate Truth, Penguin UK, →ISBN:",
          "text": "His name was Toby Bell and he was entirely alone in his criminal contemplations. [ - - - ] As to the Toby, which might by the sound of it set him higher on the English social ladder than his provenance deserved, it derived from nothing more elevated than his father's pride in the holy man Tobias, whose wondrous filial virtues are set down in the ancient scripts.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Frank sighed, and replied, “I know, Dad. It was stupid of me. But by the sound of it you are about to do something stupid too.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Apparently."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Apparently",
          "apparently"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "by the look of it"
        },
        {
          "word": "by the looks of things"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "by the sound of it"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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