"echolocation" meaning in English

See echolocation in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˌɛkoʊloʊˈkeɪʃən/ [US] Forms: echolocations [plural]
Rhymes: -eɪʃən Etymology: Coined by American zoologist Donald Griffin in 1944, from echo + location. Etymology templates: {{coin|en|Q327908|in=1944}} Coined by American zoologist Donald Griffin in 1944, {{compound|en|echo|location}} echo + location Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} echolocation (countable and uncountable, plural echolocations)
  1. The use of echoes to detect objects as observed in bats and other natural creatures. Also known as biosonar. Wikipedia link: echolocation Tags: countable, uncountable Related terms: echolocate, photolocation Translations (use of echos to detect objects): ecolocalització [feminine] (Catalan), 回聲定位 (Chinese Mandarin), 回声定位 (huíshēng dìngwèi) (Chinese Mandarin), echolokace [feminine] (Czech), kaikuluotaus (Finnish), écholocation [feminine] (French), écholocalisation [feminine] (French), Echoortung [feminine] (German), 反響定位 (hankyō teii) (alt: はんきょうていい) (Japanese), 音波探知 (onpatanpa) (Japanese), echolokacja [feminine] (Polish), ecolocalização [feminine] (Portuguese), ecolocație [feminine] (Romanian), эхолока́ция (exolokácija) [feminine] (Russian), ecolocalización [feminine] (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-echolocation-en-noun-GFzhY-L9 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for echolocation meaning in English (4.7kB)

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          "ref": "1944 December 29, Donald Redfield Griffin, “Echolocation by Blind Men, Bats and Radar”, in Science, volume 100, number 2609, →DOI, page 598, columns 1–2",
          "text": "Since there is no convenient term available to describe this process of locating obstacles by means of echoes, I suggest the word echolocation[…]. The meaning of this word, and a corresponding verb to echolocate, are likely to be clear when first heard or read, since they are formed simply by joining echo and locate. It seems best to accent the first syllable in order to make clear that the word echo is employed.",
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          "text": "Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.",
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          "code": "ca",
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          "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
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          "word": "ecolocalització"
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          "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
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          "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
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          "word": "écholocation"
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          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "écholocalisation"
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          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Echoortung"
        },
        {
          "alt": "はんきょうていい",
          "code": "ja",
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          "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
          "word": "反響定位"
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      "code": "ca",
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      "word": "ecolocalització"
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      "code": "cmn",
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      "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
      "word": "回聲定位"
    },
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      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "huíshēng dìngwèi",
      "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
      "word": "回声定位"
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      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
      "tags": [
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      "word": "echolokace"
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      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
      "word": "kaikuluotaus"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
      "tags": [
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      "word": "écholocation"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
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      "word": "écholocalisation"
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      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Echoortung"
    },
    {
      "alt": "はんきょうていい",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "hankyō teii",
      "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
      "word": "反響定位"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "onpatanpa",
      "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
      "word": "音波探知"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "echolokacja"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "ecolocalização"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "ecolocație"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "exolokácija",
      "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "эхолока́ция"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "use of echos to detect objects",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "ecolocalización"
    }
  ],
  "word": "echolocation"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). 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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