trombone

[trom-bohn, trom-bohn]

noun

1. a musical wind instrument consisting of a cylindrical metal tube expanding into a bell and bent twice in a U shape, usually equipped with a slide slide trombone.

trombone

/ trɒmˈbəʊn /

noun

1. a brass instrument, a low-pitched counterpart of the trumpet, consisting of a tube the effective length of which is varied by means of a U-shaped slide. The usual forms of this instrument are the tenor trombone (range: about two and a half octaves upwards from E) and the bass trombone (pitched a fourth lower)

2. a person who plays this instrument in an orchestra

trombone

1. A brass instrument; the player can change its pitch by sliding one part of the tube in and out of the other. The tone of the trombone is mellower than that of the trumpet.

Other Word Forms

• trombonist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of trombone¹

1715–25; < Italian, equivalent to tromb ( a ) trumpet (< Provençal < Germanic; compare Old High German trumpa, trumba horn, trumpet) + -one augmentative suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of trombone¹

C18: from Italian, from tromba a trumpet, from Old High German trumba

Example Sentences

He played brass instruments: trumpet, trombone, and tuba, as well as the flute.

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In my little corner of Silver Lake, 7 p.m. commenced a daily cacophonous communal concert of pots and pans banging, trombones and trumpets blaring, dogs and coyotes howling: a grateful group roar.

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What started as musical chairs is beginning to sound like a sad trombone.

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“And then influenced the world, because after that all the pawn shops got rid of their trombones.”

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For someone who prizes roadside Americana, this is the visual version of the sad trombone sound.

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