fife
noun
a high-pitched transverse flute used commonly in military and marching musical groups.
fife
1 American
[fahyf]
/ faɪf /
noun
verb (used with or without object)
-
fifes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fifed,
past participle, past
-
fifing
present participle
Fife
2
American
[fahyf]
/ faɪf /
noun
-
Also called Fifeshire. a historic county in E Scotland.
-
a region in E Scotland. 504 sq. mi. (1,305 sq. km).
Fife
1
British
/ faɪf /
noun
fife
2
British
/ faɪf /
noun
verb
Fife
3
British
/ faɪf /
noun
fife
Cultural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fifesimple
-
fifessimple
-
have fifedperfect
-
has fifedperfect
-
am fifingprogressive
-
are fifingprogressive
-
is fifingprogressive
-
have been fifingperfect progressive
-
has been fifingperfect progressive
Past
-
fifedsimple
-
had fifedperfect
-
was fifingprogressive
-
were fifingprogressive
-
had been fifingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fife
1540–50; < German Pfeife pipe 1
Explanation
A fife is a musical instrument that looks like a very small flute. Fifes are usually made of wood, rather than metal, and are common in military marching bands. A fife is much more high-pitched than a flute—it's also louder and more shrill sounding. It was a popular instrument in some of the folk music in medieval Europe, and especially during the Colonial period in America, when it was played more than violins or pianos. Because it's so portable and relatively loud for its size, the fife became widely used in military and marching bands starting during the Renaissance period.
Vocabulary lists containing fife
Music to My Ears: Instrumental Vocab
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Musical Instruments - Introductory
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Musical Instruments - Middle School
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
“Death to My Hometown” carried a faint whiff of Revolutionary War cosplay as several E Streeters temporarily became a miniature fife and drum corps.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2024
Items up for big include a private fife lesson with the resident fifer on the premises, table linens, getaways to other historically-minded spots, toy soldiers, golf packages, china, books — well, you get the idea.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 20, 2022
When Daudet is unsuccessful in discovering the source of an old proverb, a fife player advises him to seek it in “the cicadas’ library,” meaning a field where one lies on one’s back and contemplates.
From New York Times ● Jul. 1, 2021
A fife and drum corps perform at King and Market streets before the parade passes through.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 30, 2021
All around us I see candlelight flickering to fife from window to glassless window, and here and there the locals light small fires along the edges of alleys.
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
In Scotland, another employment tribunal found, in December 2025, that a nurse, Sandie Peggie, had been harassed by NHS Fife over its interpretation of rules on single sex spaces.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
Now 47 and living in Dunfermline, Fife, Kevin says his prized possession was one that brought together his two sporting loves.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Peggie partially won a claim for harassment against NHS Fife in December last year, but her other allegations of discrimination and victimisation were dismissed.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Fife Council has said finding reasonably priced housing in St Andrews is a "major challenge" and has put in measures such as quotas of affordable housing in new developments to try and help.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
Capt. Draper offered a small Sustenance & Pay for the Boy’s excellent Music, could he rally us upon the Fife.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
Then the “sounds of Nazi marches with fifes and drums came through the radio.”
From Slate ● Jan. 26, 2025
His supporters, some dressed as American Revolution-era patriots and playing fifes, were thrilled by Ramaswamy’s turn in the spotlight Wednesday night.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2023
You heard the muffled drums and the fifes that played lowly.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 6, 2017
Although it is not staffed by guides, if you press a button on the porch, a comprehensive account of the building’s history plays to the tune of fifes and drums.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 21, 2016
The drums marched ahead, and there was music on the fifes, and behind the men who carried the coffin walked the wife and two children....
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
Unlike the buccaneers, who had fired high to cripple their enemies above decks, the French fifed low to smash the hull of their assailant.
From Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini
So I was, and I voted for him, drummed for him, fifed and blowed; that was no reason for my thinking him the best man we had for the office.
From The Humors of Falconbridge A Collection of Humorous and Every Day Scenes by Falconbridge
He let himself be drummed and fifed home by the town militia towards evening.
From Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces; or, the Wedded Life, Death, and Marriage of Firmian Stanislaus Siebenkaes, Parish Advocate in the Burgh of Kuhschnappel. by Jean Paul
A drum corps was organized, if that could be said to be organized in which every member drummed or fifed independently of all others.
The city fathers have decked out some of Boston's sons in Revolutionary costumes and sent them roaming through the streets fifing and drumming.
From Time Magazine Archive
Keeping step to Luther Blanchard’s fifing of the White Cockade, and Francis Barker’s drumming, they marched past the men from Concord and formed on their left.
From Daughters of the Revolution and Their Times 1769 - 1776 A Historical Romance by Charles Carleton Coffin
Up from the East river come the 130 sounds of orderly drummers drumming, of regimental fifers fifing.
From The Only Woman in the Town And Other Tales of the American Revolution by Sarah J. Prichard
Now they had prepared a little fleet to pass over to the Fourth of July celebration, which some queer drumming and fifing, from the opposite bank, had announced to be "on hand."
From Summer on the Lakes, in 1843 by Margaret Fuller
Farms were rather scattered in that neighborhood, but occasionally they passed country homes, when all the folks would rush forth to learn what the drumming and fifing meant.
From The Rover Boys in Camp or, The Rivals of Pine Island by Edward Stratemeyer
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
