auditory

auditory — adjective

1. linked to the sense of hearing or to information taken in by listening.

1.adjectiveC2
Definition

linked to the sense of hearing or to information taken in by listening.

Example

Children with strong auditory memory repeated the song after one lesson.

common collocation: auditory memory

The doctor ordered auditory tests after Mei missed the school bell.

common collocation: auditory tests

Common collocations
  • auditory memory
  • auditory test
  • auditory clue
  • auditory signal
  • auditory learner
  • auditory activities
Synonyms
  • aural

    very close in meaning, but often feels more formal or academic.

  • acoustic

    usually focuses on sound itself or how it behaves physically, not on the act of hearing.

  • hearing

    is the plain everyday word and often appears in phrases such as hearing loss or hearing aid.

Antonyms
  • visual

    contrasts with auditory when information is received through sight instead of hearing.

  • non-auditory

    general opposite for things not involving hearing.

Grammar Patterns

auditory memory

auditory test

auditory clue

auditory signal

auditory learner

Usage Note

Usually appears before nouns such as memory, clue, signal, test, and learner. In education and medicine, it often contrasts with visual to describe something received through listening rather than through sight.

Common Mistakes

The alarm is auditory from the kitchen.
The alarm is audible from the kitchen.
audible means something can be heard; auditory means it relates to hearing.
The app uses oral exercises for children who learn by listening.
The app uses auditory exercises for children who learn by listening.
oral focuses on speaking or the mouth; auditory focuses on hearing.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

For this sense, auditory is a formal general word for anything connected with hearing or learning by listening. Aural is very close, but it is often chosen in academic or artistic contexts, such as aural skills in music classes. Acoustic usually points to sound itself, the way it travels, or the sound quality of a place, so an acoustic engineer studies sound, not hearing as a human sense. Hearing is the everyday choice in common phrases like hearing loss or hearing test. You might talk about auditory memory in class, aural training in music school, and acoustic problems in a noisy hall.

auditory ↗auralacoustic ↗hearing ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • auditory memory
  • auditory test
  • auditory clue
  • auditory signal
  • auditory learner

Phrases

  • auditory processing
  • auditory learning
  • visual and auditory materials
  • auditory information

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Auditory comes from Latin auditorius, a word built from audire, meaning 'to hear'. In English, it developed into an adjective for things connected with hearing, listening, or the way sound is received by the ear.