trio
Americannoun
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trios
plural
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a musical composition for three voices or instruments.
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a company of three singers or players.
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any group of three persons or things.
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a subordinate division of a minuet, scherzo, march, etc., usually in a contrasted key and style (perhaps originally written for three instruments or in three parts).
noun
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a group of three people or things
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music
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a group of three singers or instrumentalists or a piece of music composed for such a group
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a subordinate section in a scherzo, minuet, etc, that is contrastive in style and often in a related key
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piquet three cards of the same rank
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of trio
Explanation
Whether it’s birds, opera singers, aces, or golfers, you can use the word trio to refer to anything made up of three. You can probably tell by tri- that trio involves three of something. It’s often used to describe a musical arrangement featuring three vocal parts or three different instruments, or a musical group made up of three players, such as a jazz trio consisting of a piano player, a bass player, and a drummer. For those not musically inclined, the word can be used more broadly to refer to three of anything, such as a trio of friends.
Vocabulary lists containing trio
Music - Introductory
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Music - Middle School
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Music - High School
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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:
English-language news site Nation Thailand reports that the boys' mother and older sister had been waiting on the beach when the trio were brought back to safety.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Risk tolerance is the subjective marker in this trio.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
The trio performs Saturday at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach as part of a series of shows that will take the band to the U.K.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Along with right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto at the top of the rotation, the trio has the potential to be even more impactful in the postseason.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
There’s Mexico, with a trio of students practicing mariachi.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
The team sequenced the genomes of four parent-offspring trios and counted the new mutations that appeared.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026
Mr. Millepied’s contemporary dance choreography is dominated by animated groups alternating with trios, duos and solos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026
Having one of the best offensive trios of all time, the Johnson sacking and several off-field controversies involving players made the Cowboys as notorious as they were successful.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2025
Yates was expected to play alongside point guard Desmond Claude, assuming he doesn’t declare for the NBA draft, and incoming five-star prospect Alijah Arenas, forming one of the Big Ten’s better backcourt trios.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2025
He had found an album of Benny Goodman’s trios.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
Definitions 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.
