trio

American  

[tree-oh] / ˈtri oʊ /

noun

• trios
  plural

1. a musical composition for three voices or instruments.

2. a company of three singers or players.

3. any group of three persons or things.

4. 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).

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trio British  

/ ˈtriːəʊ /

noun

1. a group of three people or things

2. music

   1. a group of three singers or instrumentalists or a piece of music composed for such a group

   2. a subordinate section in a scherzo, minuet, etc, that is contrastive in style and often in a related key

3. piquet three cards of the same rank

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• trios
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of trio

1715–25; < Italian, equivalent to tri- tri- + ( du ) o two

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

trio trios

In a 5-1 victory over Bournemouth on Saturday, manager Xabi Alonso finally found the control and stability required behind his free-scoring attacking trio of Joao Pedro, Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

The trio was given carte blanche to design their individual spaces, which include a bathroom, walk-in closet and fireplace.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

They know how to surprise, and they use their trio of actors to do it cleverly.

From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026

The deaths of the trio sparked an outpouring of grief and condemnation in Australia and the United States.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

“Good effort,” he tells me, and the trio moves to the next table.

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

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

We exist as parts of trios, quartets, and so on.

From "Every Day" by David Levithan

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Related Words

• threesome
• trilogy
• triumvirate

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