baritone
Americannoun
-
a male voice or voice part intermediate between tenor and bass.
-
a singer with such a voice.
-
a large, valved brass instrument shaped like a trumpet or coiled in oval form, used especially in military bands.
adjective
noun
-
the second lowest adult male voice, having a range approximately from G an eleventh below middle C to F a fourth above it
-
a singer with such a voice
-
the second lowest instrument in the families of the saxophone, horn, oboe, etc
adjective
-
relating to or denoting a baritone
a baritone part
-
denoting the second lowest instrument in a family
the baritone horn
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of baritone
1600–10; < Italian baritono low voice < Greek barýtonos deep-sounding. See barytone
Explanation
A baritone is a singer with a deep, rich voice. The male star of an opera is usually a baritone. You can use the word baritone to mean the singer himself, or as an adjective to describe his voice. A baritone singing voice is the most common one for a man, falling in between the higher tenor and lower bass registers. Baritone comes from the Italian baritono, with its Greek root word barytonos, "deep-voiced," combining barys, "heavy or deep" and tonos, "tone."
Vocabulary lists containing baritone
Blood on the River
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Musical Instruments - Introductory
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Musical Instruments - Middle 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.
Baritone Carlos Álvarez was convincing as the troubled Diego, trying hard to keep up a macho veneer.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 18, 2026
Baritone Quinn Kelsey’s gripping “Rigoletto,” as good as it gets these days, is all bang.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 3, 2025
Baritone David Stout is happy to flout the old rule about not working with children and animals.
From BBC • Oct. 12, 2024
Up next is the Concerto for Baritone Saxophone and Orchestra, by the veteran spectralist Georg Friedrich Haas.
From New York Times • Mar. 30, 2023
Baritone is a division of bass; and tenor is either dramatic or lyric.
From The Voice Its Production, Care and Preservation by Miller, Frank E.
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.
