cymbal
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of cymbal
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English cymbal, cymbala, from Old French cymbale, cymble , and from Medieval Latin cymbalum, from Latin, from Greek kýmbalon, derivative of kýmbos, kýmbē “hollow vessel, cup”
Explanation
Crash! Clang! Those are the sounds made by a cymbal — a loud percussion instrument that is part of most drum kits. One of the most fun parts of being a drummer has to be hitting the cymbals, a crashing, clanging instrument that, as you may have guessed, is very loud. A cymbal is a concave, almost flat, circular piece of brass. Drummers hit the cymbal with a drumstick or bang two cymbals together. If you love peace and quiet, stay away from cymbals — and drummers!
Vocabulary lists containing cymbal
Music to My Ears: Instrumental Vocab
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Franklin Roosevelt, "Four Freedoms" (1941)
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Musical Instruments - Introductory
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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:
Its beat is a mix of drum machines, sequenced electronics and an acoustic kit, as tricky cymbal flourishes and field recordings of wordless voices echo somewhere in the background.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2025
The soldier wears a fur pelisse and holds a cymbal, which meant he was very likely to have belonged to a cavalry regiment, Ms Lavelle said.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2025
His jaw dropped and his body tensed in wild anticipation of uncompromised joy as he watched his buddies perform, followed by a cymbal crash of a cheer, the sound of eternal youth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2024
He grabbed the cymbal with his left hand, struck a syncopated beat with his right, stuck out his tongue and rocked to the rhythm while playing.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 3, 2023
“What do you think you’re doing?” she said, opening and closing the lid of the pot like a cymbal.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
In U.S. television, there’s a tendency to open every piece of sports programming with a clash of cymbals and a rhinoceros jumping through a flaming hoop.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
The hilltop temples echoed with chants, while dance troupes performed with clanging cymbals and bagpipes.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2025
It all belongs, in the same way the crash of Chinese cymbals in the remix of Sammie's signature song "I Lied to You" only punches up that gumbo's flavor.
From Salon ● May 2, 2025
He had to just play kick and snare and toms because if you hit the cymbals they’d reverberate for 20 minutes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2025
Money can’t buy me love, obviously, but I asked if it would have Zildjian cymbals.
From "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer
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.
