trio
Americannoun
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trios
plural
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a musical composition for three voices or instruments.
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a company of three singers or players.
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any group of three persons or things.
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a subordinate division of a minuet, scherzo, march, etc., usually in a contrasted key and style (perhaps originally written for three instruments or in three parts).
noun
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a group of three people or things
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music
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a group of three singers or instrumentalists or a piece of music composed for such a group
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a subordinate section in a scherzo, minuet, etc, that is contrastive in style and often in a related key
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piquet three cards of the same rank
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of trio
Explanation
Whether it’s birds, opera singers, aces, or golfers, you can use the word trio to refer to anything made up of three. You can probably tell by tri- that trio involves three of something. It’s often used to describe a musical arrangement featuring three vocal parts or three different instruments, or a musical group made up of three players, such as a jazz trio consisting of a piano player, a bass player, and a drummer. For those not musically inclined, the word can be used more broadly to refer to three of anything, such as a trio of friends.
Vocabulary lists containing trio
Music - Introductory
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Music - Middle School
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Music - High School
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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.
See Examples For:
Showalter has assembled the perfect trio of actors for the material, because all three have a knowingness about the way they play the duality of their characters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
He said Lady A has a new record on the way, and that the Grammy-winning trio has a slate of Christmas shows scheduled for December.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
With drummer Johnathan Blake and bassist Robert Hurst, the jazz pianist uses a traditional trio setting to craft a distinctive, surprising style.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
Over several days, he and Amphlett wrote a trio of songs and headed into the studio to record them, with Drayton on the drums.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
She marched the trio through the halls until they reached the entryway, where a large, dreary painting loomed.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Another tactic Bielsa leans on is the use of wide pairings or trios to break teams down.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
The team sequenced the genomes of four parent-offspring trios and counted the new mutations that appeared.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026
Welk was an accordionist and band leader who featured female trios and old-fashioned music.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
But as trios and couples start to enact little scenarios, over-before-you-know-it scuffles can turn trite.
From New York Times ● May 15, 2024
He had found an album of Benny Goodman’s trios.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
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.
