symphony orchestra

American  

noun

1. a large orchestra composed of wind, string, and percussion instruments and organized to perform symphonic compositions.

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symphony orchestra British  

noun

1. music an orchestra capable of performing symphonies, esp the large orchestra comprising strings, brass, woodwind, harp, and percussion

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Etymology

Origin of symphony orchestra

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

She approached the headmaster at her conservatory who placed her in a string ensemble before advancing her to the symphony orchestra as a violinist.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2026

Phil announcing it was all in with its transformative former music director and had created a new position of creative director in which he would rethink the role of the symphony orchestra in society.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 10, 2025

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour put a symphony orchestra on stage alongside the actors in a savage satire which dramatised the plight of Soviet dissidents locked away in mental hospitals.

From BBC • Nov. 29, 2025

That same year, Life magazine quoted an unnamed member of a symphony orchestra griping that Sinatra actually had the temerity to tell them what tempos he wanted his arrangements played in.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 20, 2025

Public subsidy allowed formats that had become financially unviable - such as the nineteenth-century symphony orchestra - to prosper somewhat artificially in the twentieth century, justified by the preservation of heritage.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Related Words

• chamber orchestra