treble

American  

[treb-uhl] / ˈtrɛb əl /

adjective

1. threefold; triple.

2. Music.

   1. of or relating to the highest part in harmonized music; soprano.

   2. of the highest pitch or range, as a voice part, voice, singer, or instrument.

   3. high in pitch; shrill.

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noun

• trebles
  plural

1. Music.

   1. the treble or soprano part.

   2. a treble voice, singer, or instrument.

2. a high or shrill voice or sound.

3. the highest-pitched peal of a bell.

verb (used with or without object)

• trebles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• trebled,
  past participle,  past
• trebling
  present participle

1. to make or become three times as much or as many; triple.

treble British  

/ ˈtrɛbəl /

adjective

1. threefold; triple

2. of, relating to, or denoting a soprano voice or part or a high-pitched instrument

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noun

1. three times the amount, size, etc

2. a soprano voice or part or a high-pitched instrument

3. the highest register of a musical instrument

4. 1. the high-frequency response of an audio amplifier, esp in a record player or tape recorder

   2. a control knob on such an instrument by means of which the high-frequency gain can be increased or decreased

5. Leisure:Bell-ringing the lightest and highest bell in a ring

6. 1. the narrow inner ring on a dartboard

   2. a hit on this ring

verb

1. to make or become three times as much

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• trebleness
  noun
• trebly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• trebles
  plural

Participles

• trebling
  present
• trebled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• treble
  simple
• trebles
  simple
• have trebled
  perfect
• has trebled
  perfect
• am trebling
  progressive
• are trebling
  progressive
• is trebling
  progressive
• have been trebling
  perfect progressive
• has been trebling
  perfect progressive

Past

• trebled
  simple
• had trebled
  perfect
• was trebling
  progressive
• were trebling
  progressive
• had been trebling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will treble
  simple
• will have trebled
  perfect
• will be trebling
  progressive
• will have been trebling
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of treble

1275–1325; (adj. and noun) Middle English < Middle French < Latin triplus triple; (v.) Middle English treblen, derivative of the adj.

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Explanation

Something that's treble has three parts or sections. You could describe a tricycle as a treble wheeled vehicle. You can use the adjective treble to mean "triple," either because it's three times as large, or has three components. If you watch three movies in a row at a theater, you can call it a treble feature. A three-headed monster can also be described as treble headed. Another meaning of treble is a high-pitched singing voice, especially a boy's. Treble comes from the Latin word triplus, or "threefold."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

treble trebles trebled trebling

Together, they steered the club to a treble - the Championship League Leaders' Shield, the 1895 Cup and the divisional Grand Final title.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

That season, the club also lifted the FA Cup and the Premier League trophy to become England’s first treble winners since Manchester United in 1999.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

The lock is costing £15.5bn a year, treble original estimates of the 2030 cost, especially because of the volatility of prices and earnings.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

Now, joining forces with her British team-mates to retain their relay title, the treble is hers.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

On a treble clef staff, write the chords named.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

He added winning trebles was "the standard and expectation we've set".

From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2025

If trebles are for show and doubles for dough, he has both bases covered.

From BBC ● Jan. 4, 2025

Defeat ended City’s bid to become the first English team to win back-to-back Champions League titles and its pursuit of successive trebles.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 17, 2024

He could win any number of trebles with Celtic but nothing will match the tale of how he got to the club in the first place.

From BBC ● May 8, 2023

Ignatius lis-tened to the bloodcurdling little trebles and giggles and gloated in his dark lair.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

But between clubs in England it has trebled, from six to 18.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

During the last decade, the number of these "very hot" days more than trebled compared with the 1961-1990 average, according to the Met Office.

From BBC ● May 22, 2026

More positively, Ahmed assumes $200 million of costs will be removed by FY 2027 as WiseTech cuts a workforce that trebled in size over three years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026

Many students were facing annual tuition fees that had trebled from the year before, as the cap on the amount universities could charge rose to £9,000.

From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026

The rate was at first two per cent, but afterward this was doubled and trebled; and it was levied on every transfer of goods, taxing property over and over again.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 30 of 55 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century, Volume XXX, 1640 by Antonio Alvarez de Abreu

Amsterdam, writes Mr. Mikhail, was “one of the most significant global metropolises” of the 17th century, its population trebling between 1585 and 1622.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026

As the BBC showed earlier this year, there was indeed a significant increase over time, with public funding trebling in real terms, to pay for repairs to Buckingham Palace.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2025

The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that the tax will raise about £760m in 2024-25, so trebling the rate is estimated to raise an extra £1.5bn.

From BBC ● May 29, 2024

In July 2022, there were 21,246 outdoor fires - nearly trebling the previous July's figure.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2023

People swarming in, cities doubling and trebling in numbers of inhabitants, while the fiscal guardians groan over the increasing weight of improvements and the need to care for a large new spate of indigents.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck

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Related Words

• high-pitched
• soprano

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