SONAR
nounEtymology Acronym of sound navigation and ranging. Coined by American scientist Frederick Vinton Hunt in the 1940s, roughly contemporaneously with radar. The lowercase form (sonar) is by anacronymic evolution.
1
Dated Dated form of sonar.
sonar
nounalso spelled SONARUS /ˈsoʊ.nɑːɹ/ · UK /ˈsəʊ.nɑː/
Etymology By anacronymic evolution from SONAR.
1
Nautical, Transport Usually Artificial echolocation by use of electronic equipment, with hydrophones to locate objects underwater, using the same wave-analysis principles that radar uses.
- They were able to detect the sunken wreck using sonar.
- They finally bought a new sonar to replace the 40-year-old unit that sometimes didn't work right.
3
Broadly Any echolocation.
- Submarines and bats both use sonar to navigate.
- Derived terms
- active sonar, antisonar, Doppler sonar, sonarlike, sonarman