quartet

American  

[kwawr-tet] / kwɔrˈtɛt /

especially British, quartette

noun

quartets plural

1. any group of four persons or things.

2. an organized group of four singers or players.

3. a musical composition for four voices or instruments.

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quartet British  

/ kwɔːˈtɛt /

noun

1. a group of four singers or instrumentalists or a piece of music composed for such a group See string quartet

2. any group of four

   a quartet of fast bowlers

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quartet Cultural  

1. A group of four musicians or singers; also, a piece of music for four instruments or voices.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• quartets
  plural

Etymology

Origin of quartet

1765–75; < Italian quartetto, diminutive of quarto < Latin quartus fourth

Explanation

A quartet is a musical group with four members. If you play the viola, you might form a string quartet with two violinists and a cellist. You can use the noun quartet to describe your four-person singing group, and you can also use it to talk about the piece of music you're performing, if it's written specifically for four voices or instruments. The word quartet comes from the Italian quarto, or "fourth," which in turn has it roots in the Latin quartus, also meaning "fourth."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

quartet quartets

But when the pressure heightens and matters boil over between the quartet, Wilde carefully examines the resulting eruption instead of recoiling.

From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026

Perhaps most important of all, so are its forms: the symphony, the string quartet, the cantata, etc.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

At least one Dave & Buster’s location within the past year has hired a string quartet to play live versions of iconic video game soundtracks.

From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026

Chicago selected North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson fourth, completing an elite quartet of players at the top of the draft.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026

Shortly before the appointed moment, the quartet of K.B.I. agents—Harold Nye, Roy Church, Alvin Dewey, and Clarence Duntz—gathered in a corridor outside the interrogation rooms.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

String quartets strummed their way through classical covers of pop hits.

From Salon ● Mar. 4, 2026

There would be many awards, nine Grammys among them, including two for the ensemble’s 1980s recordings of Béla Bartók’s string quartets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026

It’s difficult to imagine even the earliest of Shostakovich’s quartets without some grit in the sound.

From New York Times ● Nov. 28, 2024

This fall, the Calidore returns to Colburn to survey a hometown composer, the Hollywood film-score icon Erich Wolfgang Korngold, playing his little-known three string quartets in the first program, in Zipper Hall.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2024

In the last two years of his life, now profoundly deaf and mosdy bedridden by severe illness, Beethoven withdrew into a private sound world, composing six string quartets of astonishing, unapproachable intensity.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Related Words

• assemblage
• band
• cast
• choir
• chorus
• orchestra
• quintet
• sextet
• trio
• troupe