sonata

[suh-nah-tuh] /səˈnɑ tə/
noun, Music.
1.
a composition for one or two instruments, typically in three or four movements in contrasted forms and keys.
Origin
1685-95; < Italian < Latin sonāta, feminine of sonātus (past participle of sonāre to sound1). See sonant, -ate1
Examples from the web for sonata
  • Truth and falsity be damned, words stretched into circles dancing on the edge of madness, a sonata of vertigo.
  • Counterpoint is used to elaborate and intensify the thematic argument of sonata form.
  • The people liked the sonata, and they might have raised even more of a rum- pus over it if it hadn't had such an abrupt ending.
British Dictionary definitions for sonata

sonata

/səˈnɑːtə/
noun
1.
an instrumental composition, usually in three or more movements, for piano alone (piano sonata) or for any other instrument with or without piano accompaniment (violin sonata, cello sonata, etc) See also sonata form, symphony (sense 1), concerto (sense 1)
2.
a one-movement keyboard composition of the baroque period
Word Origin
C17: from Italian, from sonare to sound, from Latin
Word Origin and History for sonata
n.

1690s, from Italian sonata "piece of instrumental music," literally "sounded" (i.e. "played on an instrument," as opposed to cantata "sung"), fem. past participle of sonare "to sound," from Latin sonare "to sound," from PIE *swene-, from root *swen- "to sound" (see sound (n.1)). Meaning narrowed by mid-18c. toward application to large-scale works in three or four movements.

sonata in Culture
sonata [(suh-nah-tuh)]

A musical composition for one or two instruments, usually in three or four movements. The sonata of the classic era in music had a definite arrangement for its movements: the first and fourth had a fast tempo, the second had a slow tempo, and the third was in either playful style (a “scherzo”) or in dance form (a “minuet”).

sonata in Technology
operating system
The code name for the major Mac OS release due in mid-1999.
(https://devworld.apple.com/mkt/informed/appledirections/mar97/roadmap.html).
(1997-10-15)