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trombone.

A musical instrument in the brass family, having a cylindrical bore, and usually a sliding tube (but sometimes piston valves, and rarely both). Most often refers to the tenor trombone, which is the most common type of trombone and has a fundamental tone of B♭ˌ (contra B♭).

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˌtɹɒmˈbəʊn/UK/tɹəmˈbəʊn/UK/ˌtɹɑmˈboʊn/US/tɹəmˈboʊn/US
  1. A musical instrument in the brass family, having a cylindrical bore, and usually a sliding tube (but sometimes piston valves, and rarely both). Most often refers to the tenor trombone, which is the most common type of trombone and has a fundamental tone of B♭ˌ (contra B♭).

    Jim plays the trombone very well.
    This trombone is very expensive.
  2. The common European bittern.

  3. A kind of extendable support for attaching lighting elements to a set.

Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Italian trombone, from tromba (“trumpet”) + -one (augmentative), literally “large trumpet”. The telecommunications sense alludes to the shape of the musical instrument.

verb/ˌtɹɒmˈbəʊn/UK/tɹəmˈbəʊn/UK/ˌtɹɑmˈboʊn/US/tɹəmˈboʊn/US
  1. To transmit a signal or data back to a central switching point before sending it out to its destination.

  2. To extend and retract (the zoom lens); to use it too enthusiastically.

    slang · transitive
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Italian trombone, from tromba (“trumpet”) + -one (augmentative), literally “large trumpet”. The telecommunications sense alludes to the shape of the musical instrument.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.