violin

American  

[vahy-uh-lin] / ˌvaɪ əˈlɪn /

noun

• violins
  plural

1. the treble instrument of the family of modern bowed instruments, held nearly horizontal by the player's arm with the lower part supported against the collarbone or shoulder.

2. a violinist or part for a violin.

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violin British  

/ ˌvaɪəˈlɪn /

noun

1. a bowed stringed instrument, the highest member of the violin family, consisting of a fingerboard, a hollow wooden body with waisted sides, and a sounding board connected to the back by means of a soundpost that also supports the bridge. It has two f-shaped sound holes cut in the belly. The instrument, noted for its fine and flexible tone, is the most important of the stringed instruments. It is held under the chin when played. Range: roughly three and a half octaves upwards from G below middle C

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violin Cultural  

1. The most familiar and highest-pitched instrument of the strings. A typical symphony orchestra has more than two dozen violinists.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• violins
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of violin

1570–80; < Italian violino, equivalent to viol ( a ) ( see viola ¹) + -ino diminutive suffix

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Explanation

Violin is the formal word for a fiddle — a stringed instrument that's held to a player's neck and played with a bow. Nearly every string quartet includes at least one violin. The word violin comes from viola, from the Italian viola da braccio, which was a popular medieval instrument. The earliest violins had only three strings, while modern instruments have four. Starting around the 16th century, the violin became a very popular instrument, particularly among nobles. Most violins are built from maple wood, and their strings are made of dried animal gut or steel and are sometimes plated with silver.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

violin violins

As a child, Chin practiced violin for an hour a day—staring out the window into the woods and wishing he was there—followed by two hours of swimming and two hours of martial arts before homework.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

A walker wearing them is the equivalent of a grade-school violin player squeaking away on a Stradivarius.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

The name reflects the offensive's four stages, or seasons - like the Italian composer's violin concerto.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

Composer Ari Balouzian borrows bits of Bernard Herrmann’s violin score from “Vertigo” while cinematographer David Bolen makes the audience hold its breath by framing an image of Fielder and Holmes like they might kiss.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026

The bow of the violin, the part that moved, was his back leg.

From "James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl

Of course there’s comfort in the familiar, in the oboes or ocarinas of the ordinary world, in its violins and shamisens and diddley bows.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

It’s well to remember that in the early days of synthesizing instruments, violins with perfect vibrato sounded especially fake, until tiny errors generated by chance were added to the sine waves.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2026

There’s “White Hot Coal,” a pensive, acoustic folk rocker with violins as the ghost of an accordion.

From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026

Cue the violins, because after Jerome Powell’s swan song Fed rate meeting, it’s his final two weeks in the hot seat.

From Barron's ● May 4, 2026

Doña Charito's collected works hung on the walls: mostly pitchers and bowls of fruit, and violins or guitars, I couldn't tell the difference, for we hadn't had music lessons yet.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez

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Related Words

• fiddle

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