echo

Pluralechoes, echos

Formsechoes, echoing, echoed

1. 1
   returning soundnouncountable or uncountable

   A sound that returns to the listener after reflecting off a surface.

   A faint echo answered every word she called across the lake.

   Climbers in the gorge listened for the echo to judge the distance to the far wall.

   UsageThe usual plural is echoes. Typical patterns: hear an echo, the echo of footsteps.

   Similarreverberation, resonance, reflection

   Note

   Shakespeare's 'babbling echo' and Pope's woods where 'their Echo ring' show poets giving it a voice. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Shakespeare uses 'babbling echo'; Tamora speaks the words in Titus Andronicus, Act II, scene III. gutenberg.org
   • Alexander Pope describes woods whose echo rings in Summer; or, Alexis. en.wiktionary.org
2. 2
   repeat othersverbfigurativelytransitive

   To repeat another person's words, opinions, or ideas.

   The new manager simply echoed her boss's instructions at the meeting.

   Pundits across the channels echo the same talking points each evening.

   UsageOften used like said to report a reply that repeats: 'Nor I,' echoed Sydney.

   Similarrepeat, parrot, reiterate, mirror, copy

   Oppositecontradict

   Note

   Often a reporting verb, used like said for a reply that repeats the speaker: "'Nor I,' echoed Sydney," in Richard Marsh's The Beetle (1897). In journalism the passive marks agreement, as with views that 'were echoed by The Economist'. Echoing someone need not be word for word. One can echo a point of view simply by sharing it. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • Richard Marsh wrote The Beetle, and Sydney says 'Nor I' in the quoted passage. gutenberg.org
   • The Beetle was first published in 1897. flickr.com
   • The quoted journalistic wording 'were echoed by The Economist' is attested. en.wiktionary.org
3. 3
   verbintransitive

   Of a sound, to be reflected off a surface and heard again; of a place, to reflect sound back so that it repeats.

   Her footsteps echoed down the empty marble hallway.

   Voices echo for several seconds in the old stone cathedral.

   UsageSounds echo through or around a place; a place echoes with sound: the hall echoed with laughter.

   Similarresound, reverberate, resonate, ring

4. 4
   nounfigurativelycountable or uncountable

   A reminder or reflection of something from an earlier time.

   Critics found in the novel a clear echo of older epic poetry.

   The melody held a faint echo of a folk tune from her childhood.

   UsageUsually an echo of something earlier: a faint echo of a folk tune.

   Similartrace, hint, reminder, reflection, evocation

   Note

   Here the echo runs across time rather than between people. An earlier thing finds its echo in a later one, as when 1960s frustration 'finds an echo in today's increasingly confrontational tactics' (Owen Shows, Gay Community News, 1991). The construction is shared with the 'sympathetic response' meaning. What differs is whether the answer comes from a person or from a later event. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • The quotation compares frustration in the 1960s with later confrontational tactics, using the exact words quoted. en.wiktionary.org
   • The quotation is attributed to Owen Shows in Gay Community News in 1991. en.wiktionary.org
5. 5
   spread widelyverbfigurativelyintransitive

   Of a rumor or opinion, to spread and be repeated widely.

   The accusation echoed through the office for the rest of the week.

   Calls for reform echo across the country after each scandal.

   Similarreverberate, resound, circulate, spread, ring

6. 6
   shared feelingnounfigurativelycountable or uncountable

   A sympathetic response or recognition; an answering feeling in another person.

   The speaker's grief found a deep echo among the gathered mourners.

   Her hopes for the project met no echo at all from the board.

   UsageUsually find an echo in someone: her words found an echo in us.

   Similarresponse, resonance, sympathy

   Note

   Stevenson's 'kind, simple, and sincere speeches found an echo in his heart' is the classic shape. Here the echo is a response inside another person. That separates it from the 'calling back' meaning, where a later thing resembles an earlier one. Thomas Fuller's 'Fame is the echo of actions' (1642) shows an older, aphoristic use. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Thomas Fuller wrote 'Fame is the echo of actions'. archive.org
   • Fuller's quotation dates to 1642. archive.org
7. 7
   nounfigurativelycountable or uncountable

   A minor, indirect result of an earlier event; a lingering ripple.

   The scandal faded long ago, but its echoes still shape how voters see the council.

   Higher insurance prices are one lasting echo of last year's floods.

   Similarripple, trace, vestige, remnant, reverberation

8. 8
   nouncolloquialcountableabbreviationclipping

   Short for echocardiogram: an ultrasound scan of the heart, or the moving image it produces.

   The cardiologist ordered an echo to check her heart valves.

   His echo showed a healthy, strongly pumping heart muscle.

   UsageDoctors order an echo, and patients have an echo.

   Note

   The countable twin of echo used as shorthand for the technique. An echo here is a single study, or the image an echocardiograph produces. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Countable echo abbreviates echocardiogram, while uncountable echo abbreviates echocardiography. en.wiktionary.org
   • An echo can be a single cardiac ultrasound study. kingstonandrichmond.nhs.uk
   • An echo can mean the image produced by echocardiography. en.wikipedia.org

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