Resonance

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈɹɛzÉ™nÉ™ns/

Origin

From Old French resonance (French résonance), from Latin resonantia ("echo"), from resonō ("I resound").

Full definition of resonance

Noun

1. The condition of being resonant.
• 2012, May 24, Nathan Rabin, Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3, But the film is largely redeemed by an unexpected emotional resonance befitting a Steven Spielberg production.
2. A resonant sound, echo
3. (figuratively) Something that evokes an association, or a strong emotion.
4. (physics) The increase in the amplitude of an oscillation of a system under the influence of a periodic force whose frequency is close to that of the system's natural frequency.
5. (nuclear physics) A short-lived subatomic particle that cannot be observed directly.
• 2004, When experiments with the first ‘atom-smashers’ took place in the 1950s to 1960s, many short-lived heavier siblings of the proton and neutron, known as ‘resonances’, were discovered. — Frank Close, Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford 2004, p. 35)
6. An increase in the strength or duration of a musical tone produced by sympathetic vibration.
7. (chemistry) The property of a compound that can be visualized as having two structures differing only in the distribution of electrons.

Related terms

• resonate
• resonator
• resonant