wind instrument

American  

[wind] / wɪnd /

noun

wind instruments plural

1. a musical instrument sounded by the breath or other air current, as the trumpet, trombone, clarinet, or flute.

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wind instrument British  

/ wɪnd /

noun

1. any musical instrument sounded by the breath, such as the woodwinds and brass instruments of an orchestra

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• wind instruments
  plural

Etymology

Origin of wind instrument

First recorded in 1575–85

Example Sentences

To Mr. Margouleff, “it was more akin to a wind instrument in that you put your total emotive energy into playing one note, or in our case one event, at a time.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 26, 2026

Rice, who has studied cat purring himself, criticized the use of dead over living cats, saying this experiment is “akin to removing the mouthpiece from a wind instrument and analyzing its sounds in isolation.”

From Salon • Nov. 3, 2023

Just looking at excised larynges, he says, is “akin to removing the mouthpiece from a wind instrument and analyzing its sounds in isolation.”

From Science Magazine • Oct. 3, 2023

The movie opens with a placid skyline changed by the sudden appearance of some wispy carnation-colored formations, while an ominously rippling score emerges, sounding like a wind instrument section on the attack.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 20, 2022

The standing waves in a wind instrument are a little different from a vibrating string.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones