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electric guitar

American

noun

a guitar equipped with electric or magnetic pickups that permit its sound to be amplified and fed to a loudspeaker.

electric guitar British

noun

an electronically amplified guitar, used mainly in pop music Compare acoustic guitar

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of electric guitar

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

We would sit knee-to-knee the room was so small, and he’d play the electric guitar.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 26, 2026

To her right stood Brandon Ross, whose searing yet disarmingly tender electric guitar tones built like waves, exploded like starbursts or sketched lines of staggering intricacy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026

She sang traditional gospel songs with contemporary jazz tempos that she played on her electric guitar.

From BBC • Mar. 7, 2026

She’s 16, and by now she knows how to issue perfect sound bites: “I think every citizen should be given an electric guitar on her sixteenth birthday.”

From Salon • Jan. 27, 2026

He could get down with his electric guitar in Washington Square Park and make the crowd holler for more.

From "Clayton Byrd Goes Underground" by Rita Williams-Garcia

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023