octet

or oc·tette

[ok-tet]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR octet ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a company of eight singers or musicians.

a musical composition for eight voices or instruments.

Prosody. octave(def 4).

any group of eight.

Origin of octet

1860–65; oct- + -et, as in duet

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for octet

chorus, trio, cast, orchestra, band, troupe, assemblage, quintet, sextet, choir, quartet, octave, octad, octet, octagon, gathering, set, group, composite, sum

Examples from the Web for octet

Contemporary Examples of octet

In recent months, the Israeli press has been rife with speculation about how the octet would view a strike on Iran.
Meet the Israeli ‘Octet’ That Would Decide an Iran Attack
Eli Lake
March 9, 2012

Historical Examples of octet

The octet was finished and the first two lines of the sestet.
Orpheus in Mayfair and Other Stories and Sketches
Maurice Baring
Sonata for piano, violin, and violoncello (from the Octet, Op. 103); pub.
Beethoven: A Memoir (2nd Ed.)
Elliott Graeme
Felix had not completed his seventeenth year when the Octet was written.
Story-Lives of Great Musicians
Francis Jameson Rowbotham
Octet for wind instruments, in E flat major; composed in Bonn before 1792.
Beethoven: A Memoir (2nd Ed.)
Elliott Graeme
Later he wrote a new postlude, which is found among motivi for the Octet and the Trio in C minor.
The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume I (of 3)
Alexander Wheelock Thayer

British Dictionary definitions for octet

octet

noun

any group of eight, esp eight singers or musicians

a piece of music composed for such a group

prosody another word for octave (def. 2)

chem a group of eight electrons forming a stable shell in an atom

Also (for senses 1, 2, 3): octette

Word Origin for octet

C19: from Latin octo eight, on the model of duet

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012