metronome
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of metronome
1810–20; metro- 1 + -nome < Greek nómos rule, law
Explanation
Remember that little pyramid-shaped machine with the pendulum that clicked so agonizingly during your early piano lessons? Well, that was a metronome, a device that helps musicians keep to the tempo of the music. The metronome was invented in 1815 by a German engineer called Johann Maelzel, who was good friends with Beethoven. They even performed together, with Maelzel giving demonstrations of his device in the intervals. The metronome has come in for some criticism, but if it was good enough for Beethoven, it's probably good enough for you. The name comes from the Greek words metron for "measure," and nomus for "regulating."
Vocabulary lists containing metronome
Music - Introductory
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"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak, Part Nine
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Music - 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.
See Examples For:
Trade the metronome as it swings back and forth, but don’t let the hypnotic sound lull you into complacency.
From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026
"We're now starting to understand how the uterus acts as both a muscle and a metronome to ensure that labor follows the body's own rhythm."
From Science Daily ● Jan. 13, 2026
These are the bluebloods, the old money of the investment world, steady as a metronome and just as thrilling.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2025
But all eyes should be on the key battle of the game: Odegaard's man-marking job on Vitinho, the metronome and orchestrator of Enrique's fluid possession football.
From BBC ● May 7, 2025
Mom would sip her coffee slowly and metronome her head back and forth, doing her crossword.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
The night sky contains remarkably precise "cosmic clocks": pulsars, which are dense neutron stars that emit radio pulses at steady intervals, ticking like perfectly timed metronomes.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2025
Ninety percent of bands use backing tracks and metronomes, but we play 100% live.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2024
These structures from quantum impracticality, inherent crystalline metronomes might migrate into our future time-keeping technology.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 4, 2023
After a few stressful spring weeks, they now operate more like metronomes.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 30, 2022
In coffins for the not dead and not alive, in planked boxes, the metronomes waited to be set in motion.
From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury
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.
