Word of the Day

: December 20, 2007

audition

noun aw-DISH-un

What It Means

1 : the power or sense of hearing

2 : the act of hearing; especially : a critical hearing

3 : a trial performance to appraise an entertainer's merits

audition in Context

The theater company is holding auditions today for the role of the play's central character.

Did You Know?

Today, "audition" most often refers to a theatrical tryout, but that wasn't always the case. "Audition" is rooted in the Latin verb "audire," meaning "to hear," and was first used in the late 16th century to refer to the power or sense of hearing. "Audire" is also the root of such "hearing" words in English as "audible," "audience" (which first meant "the act or state of hearing"), and the prefix "audio-," which appears in various words relating to sound. It wasn't until late 19th century that the noun "audition" began being used for an entertainer's trial performance. And the verb "audition," meaning "to test or try out in an audition," didn't appear on the English language stage until the mid-20th century.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.