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

See Examples For:

wind instrument

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

He is the grandson of Andres Landero, the first músico to incorporate the wind instrument into cumbia.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2024

He was crispest and most adventurous on his EWI — electronic wind instrument — on which he delivered the most convincing, sturdiest melodies with hints of sci-fi spookiness.

From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2024

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

Figure 3.10: Standing Waves in a wind instrument are usually shown as displacement waves, with nodes at closed ends where the air cannot move back-and-forth.

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