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.

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composer British  

/ kəmˈpəʊzə /

noun

1. a person who composes music

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• composers
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of composer

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

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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

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

“The Odyssey” composer Ludwig Göransson discusses his continuing collaborations with Christopher Nolan and Ryan Coogler, where to get great Swedish cinnamon buns and his go-to hair products.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

As time went on, more adventurous musicians, such as the ninth-century Byzantine composer Kassia of Constantinople, began mixing the parallel organum style with the drone style.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Rockstar posted a new trailer online for "GTA VI" featuring a song from "original score composers Justice", who are best known for their work during the late "French Touch" electro wave of the early 2000s.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

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

Celebrated composers, from Monteverdi to Handel, Gluck and even Mozart, have written prominent roles with high male voices in mind.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

Industry editors, sound mixers, visual effects artists and composers had said such a credit was necessary to lure jobs back from overseas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

French composers of the melodramatic grand opera school -Jules Massenet and Charles Gounod, for example - were just as much a target for his often facetious pen.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

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Related Words

• writer

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