guitar

American  

[gi-tahr] / gɪˈtɑr /

noun

• guitars
  plural

1. a stringed musical instrument with a long, fretted neck, a flat, somewhat violinlike body, and typically six strings, which are plucked with the fingers or with a plectrum.

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guitar British  

/ ɡɪˈtɑː /

noun

1. music a plucked stringed instrument originating in Spain, usually having six strings, a flat sounding board with a circular sound hole in the centre, a flat back, and a fretted fingerboard. Range: more than three octaves upwards from E on the first leger line below the bass staff See also electric guitar bass guitar Hawaiian guitar

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guitar Cultural  

1. A stringed musical instrument (see strings) usually played by strumming or plucking. Guitars are widely used in folk music and, often amplified electronically, in country and western music and rock 'n' roll.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• guitarist
  noun
• guitar-like
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• guitars
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of guitar

1615–25; < Spanish guitarra < Arabic kītārah ≪ Greek kithára kithara

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Explanation

A guitar is a musical instrument with a long neck and strings. When you play the guitar, you press the strings with one hand to make a note, and strum with the other hand (unless, of course, you are playing air guitar). The section of a guitar where your fingers form a note is called the "fingerboard." An acoustic guitar has a hollow body that vibrates with warm sound when you pluck or strum the strings, and an electric guitar is solid and plugs into an amplifier that projects the sound. The word guitar comes from the Spanish guitarra, which has its roots in the Greek kithara, a lyre-like stringed instrument.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

guitar guitars

A man in Northern California is drawing comparisons to actor Antonio Banderas’ character “El Mariachi” by online commentators after Richmond police said they found him carrying a guitar case hiding a loaded rifle.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026

Andrew, were you channeling Peter Buck on guitar?

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

“One Man” is a gorgeous slice of baroque pop, with acoustic guitar and a string quartet, and on the swooning ballad “Where Is Gone?”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

On “Souls of Fire,” Mr. Light’s guitar track is reversed—heard backward—to produce briefly glowing orbs of sound that intensify the song’s elegiac mood.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

She found her, sitting in a circle around a nun with a guitar.

From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt

Those guitars on the bridge are the most beautiful thing he’s ever done.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026

The company started in 1959 as a Hollywood organ shop, pivoting to guitars and amps as Beatlemania swept the U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

Other highlights include the manual typewriter she used to write her correspondence and autobiography, jewellery, and classical guitars.

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026

“It has none of those elements one sees so often: festivals of wrought iron, little Juliet balconies, guitars strumming in every corner,” he recalled in his 1998 interview.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026

They listened to a country radio station turned up so loud that the twangs of steel guitars were distorted in the Hearse's old speakers.

From "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green

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