Word.ws English Dictionary

double-stop

double-stop verb: to play on two stopped strings of a stringed instrument simultaneously.

Verb

double-stop (third-person singular simple present double-stops, present participle double-stopping, simple past and past participle double-stopped)

  1. to play on two stopped strings of a stringed instrument simultaneously.
    • Divisi in the orchestra greatly reduces the need for double-stopping, per se, in this form of string playing.1957, Clifford A. Cook, String teaching and some related topics, page 39
    • Some Greek musicians have used open tunings on the violin and double-stopped the strings to produce a drone.2003, Aline Scott-Maxwell, John Whiteoak, Currency companion to music and dance in Australia, page 69

Noun

double-stop (plural double-stops)

  1. a chord or combination composed of two notes played on separate strings simultaneously.
    • There has been some question concerning whether the downbeat of m. 19 should be a triple-stop with the open D string as the bottom note or a double-stop with the open A string as the bottom note.1999, Joel Lester, Bach's Works for Solo Violin: Style, Structure, Performance, →ISBN
    • You can play a double-stop on adjacent strings or on nonadjacent strings (by skipping strings).2012, Mark Phillips, Jon Chappell, Guitar For Dummies, →ISBN, page 96

Forms of double-stop

Verb
third-person singular presentdouble-stops
present participledouble-stopping
past participledouble-stopped
pastdouble-stopped
Noun
pluraldouble-stops

Questions about double-stop

What does double-stop mean?
Double-stop means to play on two stopped strings of a stringed instrument simultaneously.
What part of speech is double-stop?
Double-stop can be a verb or a noun.
What is the past tense of double-stop?
The past tense of double-stop is double-stopped.

Words near double-stop in the dictionary

  1. double-slit experiments
  2. double-space
  3. double-spaced
  4. double-spaces
  5. double-spacing
  6. double-stop
  7. double-stopped
  8. double-stopping
  9. double-stops
  10. double-stranded
  11. double-struck

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: double-stop (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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