symphony

[sim-fuh-nee] /ˈsɪm fə ni/

noun, plural symphonies.

Music.

an elaborate instrumental composition in three or more movements, similar in form to a sonata but written for an orchestra and usually of far grander proportions and more varied elements.
an instrumental passage occurring in a vocal composition, or between vocal movements in a composition.
an instrumental piece, often in several movements, forming the overture to an opera or the like.

symphony orchestra.

a concert performed by a symphony orchestra.

anything characterized by a harmonious combination of elements, especially an effective combination of colors.

harmony of sounds.

Archaic. agreement; concord.

Origin

1250-1300; Middle English symfonye < Old French symphonie < Latin symphōnia concert < Greek symphōnía harmony. See sym-, -phony

Related forms

presymphony, noun, plural presymphonies.

Examples from the web for symphony

It is particularly strong in music, with chamber and symphony orchestras, a jazz band and an excellent choir.
Combines scholarly and personal perspectives in a study of the composer's final symphony.
The city hosts a number of annual festivals and has its own ballet and symphony.
When travel sends you thunderstorms, enjoy the symphony.
There's also a chamber music festival, and the city has its own symphony.
It's a big symphony of a play and you begin to hear different sounds coming from different actors.
It's big enough to support a symphony and opera, if those things matter to you.
Whether his work be picture or symphony, legend or lyric, is of little moment.
There was movement everywhere, but the symphony of migration also had antiphonal strains of settling down.
The narrator's decision to form a new group was prompted by by a situation vis-a-vis the symphony.

British Dictionary definitions for symphony

symphony

/ˈsɪmfənɪ/

noun (pl) -nies

an extended large-scale orchestral composition, usually with several movements, at least one of which is in sonata form. The classical form of the symphony was fixed by Haydn and Mozart, but the innovations of subsequent composers have freed it entirely from classical constraints. It continues to be a vehicle for serious, large-scale orchestral music

a piece of instrumental music in up to three very short movements, used as an overture to or interlude in a baroque opera

any purely orchestral movement in a vocal work, such as a cantata or oratorio

short for symphony orchestra

(in musical theory, esp of classical Greece)

another word for consonance (sense 3) Compare diaphony (sense 2)
the interval of unison

anything distinguished by a harmonious composition: the picture was a symphony of green

(archaic) harmony in general; concord

Derived Forms

symphonic (sɪmˈfɒnɪk) adjective
symphonically, adverb

Word Origin

C13: from Old French symphonie, from Latin symphōnia concord, concert, from Greek sumphōnia, from syn- + phōnē sound

Word Origin and History for symphony

late 13c., the name of various musical instruments, from Old French symphonie "harmony" (12c.), from Latin symphonia "a unison of sounds, harmony," from Greek symphonia "harmony, concert," from symphonos "harmonious," from syn- "together" (see syn-) + phone "voice, sound" (see fame (n.)).

Meaning "harmony of sounds" is attested from mid-15c.; sense of "music in parts" is from 1590s. "It was only after the advent of Haydn that this word began to mean a sonata for full orchestra. Before that time it meant a prelude, postlude, or interlude, or any short instrumental work." ["Elson's Music Dictionary"] Meaning "elaborate orchestral composition" first attested 1789 (symphonic in this sense is from 1864). Elliptical for "symphony orchestra" from 1926.

symphony in Culture

symphony definition

An extended musical composition for orchestra in several movements, typically four. Among the composers especially known for their symphonies are Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Franz Josef Haydn, Gustav Mahler, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

symphony in Technology

tool, product
Lotus Development's successor to their Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet. Unlike 1-2-3, Symphony allowed a limited form of multitasking. The user could switch manually between it and MS-DOS and separate graph and spreadsheet windows could be opened simultaneously and would be updated automatically when cells were changed. In addition, a small word processor could be opened in a third window. These all could be printed out on the same report. Symphony could read and write Lotus 1-2-3 files and had interactive graphical output and a word processor, thus making it effectively a report generator. Unlike 1-2-3, Symphony was not a great commercial success.
(1995-03-28)