Word.ws English Dictionary

by the sound of it

by the sound of it prepositional phrase: apparently.

Prepositional phrase

  1. Apparently.
    • Tom adored to give pleasure while Gore has always liked to boast that he has never knowingly or intentionally gratified any of his partners. Not even a sighing reach-around by the sound of it.2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 153
    • By the sound of it, the ever obliging Agent Barrett didn't really feel like obliging. Else he was too sleep-drunk to string two rational thoughts together.2011, Sabine C. Bauer, Stargate SG-1: Transitions, Fandemonium Books (2011), unnumbered pages
    Synonyms:
    by the look of it, by the looks of things

Synonyms of by the sound of it

Questions about by the sound of it

What does by the sound of it mean?
By the sound of it means apparently.
What part of speech is by the sound of it?
By the sound of it is a prepositional phrase.

Words near by the sound of it in the dictionary

  1. by the rood
  2. by the same token
  3. by the score
  4. by the skin of one's teeth
  5. by the sly
  6. by the sound of it
  7. by the strong hand
  8. by the time
  9. by the ton
  10. by the way
  11. by the way of

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: by the sound of it (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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