gamut

American  

[gam-uht] / ˈgæm ət /

noun

• gamuts
  plural

1. the entire scale or range.

   the gamut of dramatic emotion from grief to joy.

   Synonyms:

   extent, reach, scope, breadth, sweep

2. Music.

   1. the whole series of recognized musical notes.

   2. the major scale.

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gamut British  

/ ˈgæmət /

noun

1. entire range or scale, as of emotions

2. music

   1. a scale, esp (in medieval theory) one starting on the G on the bottom line of the bass staff

   2. the whole range of notes

3. physics the range of chromaticities that can be obtained by mixing three colours

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• gamuts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of gamut

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Medieval Latin; contraction of gamma ut, equivalent to gamma, used to represent the first or lowest tone (G) in the medieval scale + ut (later do ); the notes of the scale ( ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si ) being named from a Latin hymn to St. John the Baptist: Ut queant laxis re sonare fibris. Mi ra gestorum fa muli tuorum, Sol ve polluti la bii reatum, S ancte I ohannes

Explanation

A visit with a long-lost cousin might arouse emotions that run the gamut of from joy to nostalgia to sorrow. A gamut is a full or complete range. In the 16th century, the gamut was the lowest note on the musical scale. In music as well as life, the word has expanded to mean from high to low, or the whole range. The word is often associated with "run," as in "run the gamut from totally excited to so terrified you're quaking with fear." And if you've talked about every discussion point on your agenda, you've covered the gamut of issues that need discussing.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gamut gamuts

I felt more confident about avoiding the gamut of e-bike-riding phone thieves in central London without my phone physically in my hand.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

The rest of the menu runs the seafood gamut, from grilled whole branzino to New England seafood sauté, along with a smaller selection of steaks.

From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026

Price targets run the gamut, and not all of them imply extreme upside potential.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026

They ran the gamut from an average of 0.01 star lower on Amazon.com to 0.33 star lower on German employer-review site Kununu.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

Their talk ran the gamut from the conservancy district to the death of Betita Cordova, who fell in the gorge in the snow on the same day John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

These gamuts are important if your work requires them, though if that’s the case, I’m guessing you know that.

From The Verge ● Jan. 17, 2022

It’s as though a leaf blower has blown all the gamuts pirouetting into the air.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2020

He called them gamuts and likened them to a collection stones or shells he might pick up on the beach.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2020

Wide color gamuts let you see shades of colors that exist in real life but that earlier TVs couldn’t display.

From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2018

A style as brilliant, sinuous, and personal as his thought; flexible or massive, continent or coloured, he discourses at ease in all the gamuts and modes major, minor, and mixed.

From Unicorns by James Huneker

Related Words

• spectrum