sounding board
noun
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The Literal Origins of Sounding Board
Beginning during the Renaissance, a flat wooden canopy called a sounding board was placed over church pulpits, amplifying the sound of the preacher's voice, carrying it to the farthest reaches of the church. Similarly, ideas can be spread by a figurative sounding board. A publication, for example, can be a sounding board for propaganda. That's one modern sense of the word. But when sound bounces off a literal sounding board, not only does it reach more people, it also comes across more clearly. Likewise, bouncing ideas off another person can lend clarity to one's thought processes. If someone comes to you and says "How does this sound?" and leaves with his or her mind made up (whether or not you've ventured a word), you have served as a very effective sounding board.
Examples of sounding board in a Sentence
Jeanne Phillips, The Mercury News, 29 Oct. 2024
Horowitz sold him some forty archives and collections, for about $25 million, and routinely used him as a sounding board and a stalking horse.
—Tad Friend, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024
The former speaker served as a sounding board for Democratic lawmakers who were concerned with Biden’s campaign.
—Dan Morrison, USA TODAY, 22 July 2024
Fiennes expresses the dismay and escalating pressure of being the sounding board and moral center of the decision-making.
—Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 23 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for sounding board 
Dictionary Entries Near sounding board
Cite this Entry
“Sounding board.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sounding%20board. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.
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