sounding board

noun

1

a

: a structure behind or over a pulpit, rostrum, or platform to give distinctness and sonority to sound

b

: a device or agency that helps propagate opinions or utterances

c

: a person or group on whom one tries out an idea or opinion as a means of evaluating it

2

: soundboard sense 1

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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

My friend is my sounding board for new ideas.

Recent Examples on the Web

It not, there is better sounding board on how to build it from ground up. —Clarence E. Hill Jr., Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 20 Feb. 2024

For countless emerging artists, many of whom have become marquee names, Satter has been a guide, a sounding board and a goad at the most vulnerable moments in their careers, counseling them not just in how to make their films better, but in how best to get them in front of audiences. —Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 6 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1729, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

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Kids Definition

sounding board

noun

1

: a structure behind or over a speaker's platform to make sound uttered from it clear

2

: a means for helping to spread opinions

3

: a person or group on whom new ideas or opinions are tested