audible

audible — adjective

1. loud enough for someone to hear.

1.adjectiveC1
Definition

loud enough for someone to hear.

Example

Her answer was barely audible above the fans in the gym.

barely audible above + noise

From the back row, the guide's voice was still audible.

be audible from + place

Common collocations
  • barely audible
  • clearly audible
  • audible voice
  • audible click
  • audible signal
Synonyms
  • hearable

    very close in meaning, but much less common than audible.

  • clear

    adds the idea that the sound is easy to understand, not only possible to hear.

  • loud

    stronger than audible; it suggests a higher volume.

Antonyms
  • inaudible

    direct opposite when a sound cannot be heard.

  • silent

    describes no sound being made at all.

Grammar Patterns

be audible from + place

be audible above + noise

barely audible

clearly audible

Usage Note

Often appears after be with words like barely, faintly, clearly, or plainly. Distinguish it from loud: a sound can be audible without being strong or uncomfortable.

Common Mistakes

The teacher was loud enough from the back row.
The teacher was audible from the back row.
audible focuses on whether people could hear the sound at all.
The radio voice was very clear, but I could not hear it.
The radio voice was clear, but it was not audible.
clear means easy to understand; audible means possible to hear.

audible — noun

audible — verb

Word family

  • audibly
    adverbC2
  • inaudible
    adjectiveC2
  • audibility
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

For this sense, audible simply means that a sound can be heard. It says nothing by itself about whether the sound is strong, pleasant, or easy to understand. Loud is stronger: if music is loud, it is high in volume and may even be too much. Clear focuses on understanding, so a voice can be audible but not clear if the words are blurred. Hearable is close in meaning to audible, but it is much less common in everyday English. A useful contrast is: The station announcement was audible, but not clear. The band next door was very loud.

audible ↗loud ↗clear ↗hearable

Common collocations

Nouns

  • audible voice
  • audible signal
  • call an audible

Adverbs

  • barely audible
  • clearly audible
  • faintly audible

Phrases

  • be barely audible
  • call an audible at the line
  • audible to a run

Prepositions

  • audible from
  • audible through
  • audible above

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Audible comes from a Latin verb meaning 'hear'. It reached English through French and late Latin forms built on that root. The central idea has stayed the same: something audible is something the ear can catch. The American-football noun and verb grew later from the idea of a play being called out so teammates can hear it.