composer

American  

[kuhm-poh-zer] / kəmˈpoʊ zər /

noun

• composers
  plural

1. a person or thing that composes.

2. a person who writes music.

3. an author.

---

composer British  

/ kəmˈpəʊzə /

noun

1. a person who composes music

2. a person or machine that composes anything, esp type for printing

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• composers
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of composer

First recorded in 1555–65; compose + -er ¹

---

Explanation

A composer is an artist who writes music to be played or performed by musicians. A classical composer might work by writing out musical notation and trying things out on the piano. If you're a composer, you most likely write classical, jazz, music for film, or another type of primarily instrumental music, without lyrics. A writer of popular or rock music is more likely to be called a "songwriter." A composer might compose symphonies as a profession, or write short tunes as a hobby. In Old French, composer means "put together, arrange, or write," from com-, "with," and poser, "to place."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

composer composers

After racking up interest from readers, she was contacted by actor Rhys Jennings who, alongside Olivier Award–winning composer Darren Clark, created a musical.

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026

Musician and composer Neil Martin on the life of the renowned Irish musician Donal Lunny who has died aged 79.

From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026

The sixth annual fundraiser honored Oscar winner Charlize Theron with the Icon Award, filmmaker and composer John Carpenter with the Luminary Award and Academy Award nominee Colman Domingo with the Vantage Award.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026

Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as “Putin’s Chef” for having catered Kremlin events, leveraged high-level contacts to serve his grand ambitions for Wagner, the international mercenary force named for 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

In 1890, for example, if you’d asked most educated people in the West to name a famous living composer, they would very likely have given you that of a Russian, Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

It also featured a new song from French electronic music artists Justice, who were revealed to be the game's original score composers.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

As score composers, they are responsible for the in-game sound and musical themes.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

The new incentive is aimed at bringing back jobs for the industry’s editors, sound mixers, composers and visual effects artists.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

Astaire considered himself a dancer first, but composers prized his singing—its flawless rhythm, clear diction and emotional restraint, a plain manner that let melody and lyrics speak for themselves.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

But it is not just his pan-European style that make Mahler such a paradigm for twentieth-century composers; he is also notable for the directness of his musical expression.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• writer

---