accordion
Syllables: ac·cord·i·onUK/əˈkɔː.diː.ən//əˈkoɹ.di.ən/
accordion noun: a box-shaped musical instrument played by compressing or expanding its bellows while pressing its buttons or its keys, causing pallets to open, which allow air to flow across strips of brass or steel (reeds).
Noun
accordion (plural accordions)
- A box-shaped musical instrument played by compressing or expanding its bellows while pressing its buttons or its keys, causing pallets to open, which allow air to flow across strips of brass or steel (reeds).
- A disreputable accordion that had a leak somewhere and breathed louder than it squawked.1869, Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad
- A vertical list of items that can be individually expanded and collapsed to reveal their contents.
- Something, or set of things (concepts, etc), which can be expanded (or extended) and collapsed, like the musical instrument's pleated, folding bellows.
- See also: telescoping
- "Accordion" skirts are named from the musical instrument of that title, because the peculiar plaiting draws out and falls together again, in the same kind of folds, and with the same effect.1885, Demorest's Monthly Magazine, page 206
Verb
accordion (third-person singular simple present accordions, present participle accordioning, simple past and past participle accordioned)
- To fold up, in the manner of an accordion
- I slit the wrapping with my pocketknife and the clothesline accordioned out in stiff loops.1980, Stephen King, The Mist, Viking Press
- Still in reverse, she goosed the gas and accordioned the running board a fraction of an inch more.2000 December 29, Charles Dickinson, “Qi”, in Chicago Reader
accordion meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam
accordion in Hindi
- a small, portable, keyed wind instrument
- अकॉर्डियन akŏrḍiyan
accordion in Tamil
- அக்கார்டியன் இசைக்கருவி, மடிப்புக்கதவு
accordion in Bengali
- a small, portable, keyed wind instrument
- অ্যাকর্ডিয়ন êkorḍiẏon, বাদ্যযন্ত্রবিশেষ baddojontrobiśeś
accordion in Malayalam
- കൈക്കിന്നരം
More languagesFewer languages
- accordion in Pashto
- اکوردیون akordún
- accordion in Tagalog
- akordeyon, akurdyon
- accordion in Arabic
- أَكُورْدِيُون ʔakurdiyūn
- accordion in Malay
- akordion, tetarik
- accordion in Indonesian
- akordeon
- accordion in Persian
- آکاردئون âkârde'on
- accordion in Thai
- หีบเพลงชัก hìip-pleeng-chák, หีบเพลง hìip-pleeng, แอกคอร์เดียน ɛ́k-kɔɔ-dîian
- accordion in Vietnamese
- phong cầm, đàn xếp
- accordion in Myanmar
- အကော်ဒီယံ a.kaudiyam
Examples of accordion in a sentence
- During the 1980s, accordion skirts became a popular style.2018 September 19, Ruby Y. Pruett, Daughter of the Noble Orphan, WestBow Press, →ISBN:
- As if it's an intimate cove of my history and an accordion of memories lives here, only just beginning to unfold.2013 12, Lindsay Evelyn Hamilton, Lily Whites of Steel, Author House, →ISBN, page 308:
- It was with this strange accordion of feelings, sandwiched somewhere between catharsis and fresh hurt, that he'd gotten to school five minutes early.2020 June 30, Cara Bastone, Just a Heartbeat Away, HQN Books, →ISBN:
- The accordion of "likeness" stretches and squeezes in different places as different provisions of the WTO Agreement are applied.2022 April 11, Jae Sundaram, WTO Law and Policy: A Political Economy Approach, Routledge, →ISBN:
Forms of accordion
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | accordions |
| alternative form (obsolete) | accordeon |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | accordions |
| present participle | accordioning |
| past participle | accordioned |
| past | accordioned |
Origin of accordion
First attested in 1831. Borrowed from German Akkordeon, from Akkord (“harmony”), from French accord, from Old French acorder, based on Italian accordare (“to tune”). See also accord.
Words formed from accordion
Phrases with accordion
Questions about accordion
- What does accordion mean?
- Accordion means a box-shaped musical instrument played by compressing or expanding its bellows while pressing its buttons or its keys, causing pallets to open, which allow air to flow across strips of brass or steel (reeds).
- What is accordion in Hindi?
- Accordion in Hindi is अकॉर्डियन (akŏrḍiyan). See Accordion meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use accordion in a sentence?
- During the 1980s, accordion skirts became a popular style.
- What part of speech is accordion?
- Accordion can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce accordion?
- Accordion is pronounced /əˈkɔː.diː.ən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of accordion?
- The plural of accordion is accordions.
Words near accordion in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: accordion (page history and authors); accordion (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); accordion (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-accordion.ogg.
Cite this entry: “accordion.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/accordion. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.