diapason
Americannoun
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a full, rich outpouring of melodious sound.
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the compass of a voice or instrument.
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a fixed standard of pitch.
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either of two principal timbres or stops of a pipe organ, one of full, majestic tone open diapason and the other of strong, flutelike tone stopped diapason.
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any of several other organ stops.
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a tuning fork.
noun
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either of two stops ( open and stopped diapason ) usually found throughout the compass of a pipe organ that give it its characteristic tone colour
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the compass of an instrument or voice
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a standard pitch used for tuning, esp the now largely obsolete one of A above middle C = 435 hertz, known as diapason normal ( French ( djapazɔ̃ nɔrmal )
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a tuning fork or pitch pipe
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(in classical Greece) an octave
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of diapason
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English diapasoun, dyapason, from Latin diapāsōn “the whole octave,” from Greek dià pāsôn (chordôn) “through all (the notes),” short for hē dià pāsôn chordôn symphōnía “the concord through all the notes of the scale”
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.
Feldman was fascinated by the organ's principal pipes that produce the thickly textured diapason sounds that are pure organ, as opposed to the myriad other pipes with, say, flute-like or brass-like characters.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2016
For 45 minutes he spoke, sometimes allowing his voice to swell in a sonorous diapason, sometimes letting it sink low as he leaned forward confidentially over the desk.
From Time Magazine Archive
When the organ sounds its joyous diapason, Cardinal O'Connell will listen with the ears of a notable composer.
From Time Magazine Archive
For minutes, a diapason of booming whistles from the grey ships in the North River seemed to drown out everything.
From Time Magazine Archive
A few sand-birds and plover piped plaintively to the hoarse diapason of the billows.
From Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast by Drake, Samuel Adams
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.
