trumpet

American  

[truhm-pit] / ˈtrʌm pɪt /

noun

trumpets plural

1. Music.

   1. any of a family of brass wind instruments with a powerful, penetrating tone, consisting of a tube commonly curved once or twice around on itself and having a cup-shaped mouthpiece at one end and a flaring bell at the other.

   2. an organ stop having a tone resembling that of a trumpet.

   3. a trumpeter.

2. something used as or resembling a trumpet, especially in sound.

3. a sound like that of a trumpet.

4. the loud shrill cry of an animal, especially an elephant.

5. ear trumpet.

6. trumpets, any of several pitcher plants of the southeastern U.S.

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verb (used without object)

trumpets, present (3rd person singular) trumpeted, past participle, past trumpeting present participle

1. to blow a trumpet.

2. to emit a loud, trumpetlike cry, as an elephant.

verb (used with object)

trumpets, present (3rd person singular) trumpeted, past participle, past trumpeting present participle

1. to sound on a trumpet.

2. to utter with a sound like that of a trumpet.

3. to proclaim loudly or widely.

trumpet British  

/ ˈtrʌmpɪt /

noun

1. a valved brass instrument of brilliant tone consisting of a narrow tube of cylindrical bore ending in a flared bell, normally pitched in B flat. Range: two and a half octaves upwards from F sharp on the fourth line of the bass staff

2. any instrument consisting of a valveless tube ending in a bell, esp a straight instrument used for fanfares, signals, etc

3. a person who plays a trumpet in an orchestra

4. a loud sound such as that of a trumpet, esp when made by an animal

   the trumpet of the elephants

5. an eight-foot reed stop on an organ

6. something resembling a trumpet in shape, esp in having a flared bell

7. short for ear trumpet

8. to boast about oneself; brag

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verb

1. to proclaim or sound loudly

trumpet Cultural  

1. A brass instrument with a brilliant tone, much used in classical music, as well as in military music and jazz.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• trumpet-like
  adjective
• trumpetless
  adjective
• trumpetlike
  adjective
• untrumpeted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• trumpets
  plural

Participles

• trumpeting
  present
• trumpeted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• trumpet
  simple
• trumpets
  simple
• have trumpeted
  perfect
• has trumpeted
  perfect
• am trumpeting
  progressive
• are trumpeting
  progressive
• is trumpeting
  progressive
• have been trumpeting
  perfect progressive
• has been trumpeting
  perfect progressive

Past

• trumpeted
  simple
• had trumpeted
  perfect
• was trumpeting
  progressive
• were trumpeting
  progressive
• had been trumpeting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will trumpet
  simple
• will have trumpeted
  perfect
• will be trumpeting
  progressive
• will have been trumpeting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of trumpet

1300–50; Middle English trumpette, trompette < French, equivalent to trompe trump ² + -ette -et

Explanation

A trumpet is a brass instrument that you play by blowing into its mouthpiece and pressing valves to form notes. If your older brother has trouble getting up in the morning, you can help him out by practicing your trumpet outside his bedroom door at six a.m. Trumpets fall under the category of brass instruments, along with tubas and saxophones. When you play a trumpet, you need to use something called embouchure, the proper shaping of your mouth and lips so your breath buzzes against the mouthpiece in just the right way. Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis were famous jazz trumpet players. As a verb, to trumpet is to announce something very loudly, as if you were playing it on a trumpet.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

trumpet trumpets trumpeted trumpeting

Korkejian sourced many of those sounds from instruments she first picked up as a child, returning to the trumpet — her second instrument after piano — and experimenting with tuba and valve trombone.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

Monty Norman's surf guitar riff and John Barry's sweeping orchestral scores spawned an entire genre of spy music – full of minor key suspense and piercing stabs of trumpet.

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026

Sandoval maintains a fiery pace throughout the album, commanding not only the trumpet, but the timbales and piano.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026

Dan Schlosberg’s seven-player arrangement of Barber’s technicolor orchestration, conducted by Mr. Ashworth, was clever but mostly loud with prominent trumpet and trombone, contributing to a musical performance that had just one gear: ferociously strident intensity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026

And because it was raining, she let Hadley watch cartoons, so at least I could finish my homework and practice trumpet.

From "Maybe He Just Likes You" by Barbara Dee

The result is an hour that helps showcase his refined comedic voice, surprise the audience and sound the trumpets for his next round of touring.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026

There are brief Mexican accents, such as the mariachi-style trumpets that precede the market scene.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026

Not a day goes by that I don’t read a headline that trumpets the shortage of estrogen patches, which are used to treat the bothersome symptoms of perimenopause and menopause.

From MarketWatch ● May 12, 2026

Hundreds of protesters stood outside in subzero temperatures and made as much noise as possible—banging pots, blowing whistles, drumming on buckets, blowing trombones and trumpets.

From Slate ● Feb. 11, 2026

I hear trumpets and drums and a man's voice singing.

From "The Sky at Our Feet" by Nadia Hashimi

While the tech has changed since then, the principles the court trumpeted today are evergreen.

From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026

But the U.S. delegation boarded Air Force One on Friday afternoon with little else to show from a summit the president had trumpeted for weeks as an historic event.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026

Kennedy has said in podcast interviews that he takes “a ton” of vitamins and has trumpeted stories of people using vitamins to treat infectious disease.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026

Slotkin said that Trump was taking a similar stance to former President Joe Biden, who trumpeted the country’s economic performance at a time when many people were feeling a strain on their budgets.

From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2025

The brachy threw its big head back and trumpeted into the night.

From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older

But China's own statements have been circumspect, saying it backs the ceasefire but hardly trumpeting its own diplomacy.

From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026

Her campaign is so new that she hasn’t even built a website trumpeting her priorities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026

But this year I started receiving emails in late September trumpeting an imminent Santa Claus rally.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 11, 2025

The company later dropped plans to build a new midsize aircraft that it had been trumpeting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2025

FDR had come into office brimming with optimism and trumpeting a raft of slogans and programs.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Related Words

• advertise
• proclaim
• publish
• tout