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Webster 1913 Edition


Acoustics

A-cous′tics

(#; 277)
,
Noun.
[Names of sciences in
-ics
, as,
acoustics
,
mathematics
, etc., are usually treated as singular. See
-ics
.]
(Physics.)
The science of sounds, teaching their nature, phenomena, and laws.
Acoustics
, then, or the science of sound, is a very considerable branch of physics.
Sir J. Herschel.
☞ The science is, by some writers, divided, into diacoustics, which explains the properties of sounds coming directly from the ear; and catacoustica, which treats of reflected sounds or echoes.

Webster 1828 Edition


Acoustics

ACOUS'TICS

,
Noun.
1.
The science of sounds, teaching their cause, nature and phenomena. This science is, by some writers, divided into diacoustics, which explains the properties of sounds coming directly from the sonorous body to the ear; and catacoustics, which treats of reflected sounds. But the distinction is considered of little real utility.
2.
In medicine, this term is sometimes used for remedies for deafness, or imperfect hearing.

Definition 2024


acoustics

acoustics

English

Alternative forms

Noun

acoustics (uncountable) See -ics regarding the treatment of such nouns as singular.

  1. The physical quality of a space for performing music.
    Until they discovered the non-contractual concrete slab under the stage floor, everyone at Carnegie Hall wondered, since the renovations, why the acoustics had changed.
  2. (physics) The science of sounds, teaching their nature, phenomena and laws.
    Acoustics, then, or the science of sound, is a very considerable branch of physics. - Sir John Herschel.

Usage notes

  • The science was previously divided by some writers into diacoustics, which explains the properties of sounds coming directly from (sic! Webster) the ear; and catacoustica, which treats of reflected sounds or echoes. This division is now obsolete.

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