violin

Plural: violins

Noun

• A high-pitched stringed musical instrument, played with a bow.
• bowed stringed instrument that is the highest member of the violin family; this instrument has four strings and a hollow body and an unfretted fingerboard and is played with a bow
• A small unfretted stringed instrument with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) G-D-A-E, usually held against the chin and played with a bow.
• Any instrument of the violin family, always inclusive of violins, violas and cellos, and sometimes further including the double bass.
• A violinist in an orchestra or group.

Verb

• To play on, or as if on, a violin.

Examples

• He tried to fit VIOLIN on the board but settled for ’VILE’ instead.
• She is first violin in the London Symphony Orchestra.
• The string quartet, one of the most popular groupings in chamber music, is composed entirely of violins: two violins proper, one viola, and one cello.
• The violins are seated with sufficient elbow room.
• When I play it like this, it's a fiddle; when I play it like this, it's a violin.

Synonyms

fiddle, crowd

Related Words

bass viol, cello, double bass, viol, viola, violoncello