Word.ws English Dictionary

countertenors

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countertenors is the plural of countertenor.

Meaning of countertenor

Noun

countertenor (plural countertenors)

  1. An adult male singer who uses head tone or falsetto to sing far higher than the typical male vocal range.
  2. A male singing voice far higher than the typical male vocal range.
    • The term countertenor first appeared in England during the mid 17th century. However, the style of singing originated in Elizabethan cathedral choirs, eventually falling out of favour during the Romantic period.2014 August 8, Rupert Christiansen, “The truth about falsettos [print version: 12 August 2014, p. R8]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)
  3. (historical) A part or section performing a countermelody against the tenor or main part.

Phrases with countertenors

Questions about countertenors

What is countertenors the plural of?
Countertenors is the plural of countertenor.

Words near countertenors in the dictionary

  1. countertechnicalities
  2. countertechnicality
  3. countertendencies
  4. countertendency
  5. countertenor
  6. countertenors
  7. counterterm
  8. counterterms
  9. counterterror
  10. counterterrorism
  11. counterterrorist

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: countertenors (page history and authors); countertenor (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.

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