record player

American  

noun

• record players
  plural

1. phonograph.

---

record player British  

noun

1. a device for reproducing the sounds stored on a record, consisting of a turntable, usually electrically driven, that rotates the record at a fixed speed of 33, 45, or (esp formerly) 78 revolutions a minute. A stylus vibrates in accordance with undulations in the groove in the record: these vibrations are converted into electric currents, which, after amplification, are recreated in the form of sound by one or more loudspeakers See also monophonic quadraphonics stereophonic

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• record players
  plural

Etymology

Origin of record player

First recorded in 1930–35

Compare meaning

How does record-player compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• phonograph vs. record player

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

record player

The jacket belonged to his late father, whom he remembers hovering over a record player, bearing songs from a more thrilling world.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

He powers his record player and the modest lighting in his tiny underground bunker using a hand-cranked generator.

From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2026

Among the good doctor’s many artifacts are a record player and vinyl LPs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026

The Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter spun endlessly on an old record player while Roy worked on her architecture school thesis.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2025

Even before the war, a third of all homes in Great Britain alone had a record player.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall