To produce a deep, clear sound that echoes, or to strike an emotional chord and feel meaningful or true to someone.
From Latin 'resonare' (to sound again), combining 're-' (again) and 'sonare' (to sound). It entered English in the 1600s with acoustic meaning before the metaphorical emotional sense developed in the 20th century.
Resonate is a brilliant example of metaphor expanding vocabulary—we took a physics term (sound vibrations) and used it to describe how ideas vibrate through our minds and hearts! Now politicians worry about whether messages 'resonate with voters' more than acousticians do.
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