tympani
Britishplural noun
Explanation
Tympani are large, deeply resonant drums. When you go to the symphony, you'll most likely hear tympani being played. Tympani, which are also known as timpani, timps, or kettledrums, are made of drum heads stretched across big metal bowls. The shape of their copper bodies explains the "kettle." The word tympani itself comes from the Latin root tympanum, or "drum." The sound of tympani is probably more familiar than you realize — the noise they make can sound just like thunder.
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.
Two tympani beat it out, dramatically slowed down.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 28, 2019
Trumpets sounded brassy, violins silky, tympani boomy, clarinets reedy, and they were all laid across the “soundstage,” just like in a concert hall, in spacious depth and lifelike proportions.
From Slate • Feb. 20, 2015
The organs of Corti lie on top of the basilar membrane, which is the side of the cochlear duct located between the organs of Corti and the scala tympani.
From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013
I had to leave the Royal Albert Hall halfway through a Prom because the strings sounded like dry percussion, the high woodwind screamed, and brass and tympani boomed painfully.
From The Guardian • Sep. 7, 2010
The pain is owing to the extreme sensibility of the membrana tympani.
From A Treatise on Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene (Revised Edition) by Cutter, Calvin
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.
