soundest

1. 1
   adjective

   Superlative of sound.

   The inspector judged the timber frame the soundest part of the entire house.

   Her plan struck the committee as the soundest of the three proposals.

   Note

   Built regularly from sound plus -est, it carries the superlative across every adjective meaning of the word: the soundest timber, the soundest argument, and even the soundest sleep, where sound means quiet and deep. Like most superlatives it usually takes the before it. The identical spelling is also the archaic verb form with thou, so only the sentence around it tells the two apart.

2. 2
   verbarchaic

   Archaic second-person singular simple present indicative of sound.

   Note

   Here the -est is not a superlative. It is the old ending that a verb took after thou, as in thou soundest the trumpet. It works with every verb meaning of sound, including the linking use, as in thou soundest weary. Use it only to evoke older English deliberately. In ordinary modern speech and writing the same idea is simply you sound.

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