synthesizer
Americannoun
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a person or thing that synthesizes.
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any of various electronic, sometimes portable consoles or modules, usually computerized, for creating, modifying, and combining tones or reproducing the sounds of musical instruments by controlling voltage patterns, operated by means of keyboards, joysticks, sliders, or knobs.
noun
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an electrophonic instrument, usually operated by means of a keyboard and pedals, in which sounds are produced by voltage-controlled oscillators, filters, and amplifiers, with an envelope generator module that controls attack, decay, sustain, and release
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a person or thing that synthesizes
Etymology
Origin of synthesizer
First recorded in 1865–70; 1905–10 synthesizer for def. 2; synthesize + -er 1
Explanation
A synthesizer is a musical instrument that has a keyboard like a piano but can sound like just about any instrument in the world. The usually small, modest keyboard of a synthesizer can be deceiving — it's not just an electronic piano. Synthesizers can mimic the sound of a saxophone, drums, hand claps, or even an orchestra's entire string section. Some synthesizers even let you play a recorded sound and then manipulate it so it sounds just the way you want it to. Synthesizer comes from synthesize, "combine two or more things," and its Greek root synthesis, "a putting together."
Vocabulary lists containing synthesizer
Music - Introductory
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Music - Middle School
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Musical Instruments - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It opens with rumbling drums, a wandering upright bass, and an atmospheric synthesizer.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2026
A veritable feast for the ears that shimmers with sound — a stray guitar flourish here, a pulsing synthesizer there.
From Salon • Mar. 6, 2026
Is the synthesizer in “Chihiro” pushing toward the hypnotic style of electronic music known as trance?
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 29, 2025
And when a malfunctioning synthesizer forced him to abort a performance of his new song Small Changes, the former perfectionist just laughed it off.
From BBC • Nov. 27, 2024
It sounded as if it were being generated by a primitive speech synthesizer, like those used in Q*Bert and Gorf.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
