From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsoundingssound‧ings /ˈsaʊndɪŋz/ noun [plural] 1 ASK A QUESTIONcareful or secret questions that you ask someone to find out what they think about something We’re taking soundings to find out how people feel about the changes.2 HEOTMmeasurements you make to find out how deep water is
Examples from the Corpus
soundings• After discreet soundings, they prudently abandoned the idea, which would have involved a major encroachment upon judicial independence.• His soundings in the City support this view, he said.• Anderson participated in the informal soundings on how best the idea might be given institutional and practical form.• He made two more soundings further along the bank and got the same result for both.• Last month, after its preliminary soundings of the market, Dataquest lowered its industry sales forecasts.• Mr Major had been taking private soundings about such a move before Christmas.taking soundings• During the break, lawmakers spend time taking soundings from voters on various issues. 