orchestra
Syllables: or·ches·tra/ˈɔː.kɪs.tɹə//ˈoɹ.kɪs.tɹə/
orchestra noun: a large group of musicians who play together on various instruments, usually including some from strings, woodwind, brass and/or percussion; the instruments played by such a group.
Noun
orchestra (plural orchestras or (rare) orchestrae)
- A large group of musicians who play together on various instruments, usually including some from strings, woodwind, brass and/or percussion; the instruments played by such a group.
- The orchestra plays music for the dancers to dance to in the 19th century-styled dance hall.
- It requires quite an orchestra to get a train to start; the guard blows his horn, the stationmaster rings a large bell, and the engine whistles.1941 February, Voyageur, “The Railways of Greece”, in Railway Magazine, page 67
- A semicircular space in front of the stage used by the chorus in Ancient Greek and Hellenistic theatres.
- The area in a theatre or concert hall where the musicians sit, immediately in front of and below the stage, sometimes (also) used by other performers.
- A group of crickets.
- the jackhammering racket of the city softened and an orchestra of crickets trilled in unison2024 September 11, Eliot Stein, “Kayaking the waters that shaped New York City”, in BBC
- Nightfall also awakened the neighborhood orchestra of crickets.2024 April 21, Borden Applegate, “Jacksonville Beach retiree: Memories of frogs, fireflies and a natural world now vanished”, in The Florida Times Union
orchestra meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
orchestra in Hindi
- large group of musicians who play together on various instruments
- बाजा bājā, ऑर्केस्ट्रा ŏrkesṭrā, आर्केस्ट्रा ārkesṭrā, वाद्यवृंद vādyavŕnd, वृंदवादन vŕndvādan
orchestra in Tamil
- பல்லியம், இசைக்குழு, சேர்ந்திசை, கூட்டியம், கூட்டிசை, குழுவிசை
orchestra in Urdu
- large group of musicians who play together on various instruments
- آرْکِسْٹْرا ārkisṭrā
orchestra in Bengali
- large group of musicians who play together on various instruments
- অর্কেস্ট্রা orkesṭra, বাদকদল badkodol
More languagesFewer languages
- orchestra in Malayalam
- പക്കവാദ്യസമൂഹം, വാദ്യവൃന്ദം, മേളക്കാരുടെ സംഘം
- orchestra in Kannada
- ಆರ್ಕೆಸ್ಟ್ರ, ವಾದ್ಯವೃಂದ, ವಾದ್ಯಗೋಷ್ಠಿ, ವಾದ್ಯಮೇಳ
- orchestra in Tagalog
- orkestra
- orchestra in Arabic
- أُورْكِسْتْرَا ʔōrkistrā
- orchestra in Malay
- orkestra
- orchestra in Indonesian
- orkestra, orkes
- orchestra in Thai
- ออร์เคสตรา ɔɔ-kées-dtrâa
- orchestra in Vietnamese
- dàn nhạc
- orchestra in Myanmar
- သံစုံတီးဝိုင်း samcumti:wuing:
Examples of orchestra in a sentence
- The trumpets were assigned to stand at the rear of the orchestra pit.
- I've been second fiddle in that orchestra for ten years now.
- The way the orchestra performed tonight was an insult to my ears.
Forms of orchestra
| plural | orchestras |
|---|---|
| plural (rare) | orchestrae |
Origin of orchestra
Borrowed from Latin orchēstra, borrowed from Ancient Greek ὀρχήστρα (orkhḗstra), from ὀρχέομαι (orkhéomai, “to dance”) + -τρᾰ (-tră, “a suffix used to form instrument nouns (pl.)”).
Words formed from orchestra
- chamber orchestra
- miniorchestra
- monkey orchestra
- orchestra hit
- orchestral
- orchestraless
- orchestra pit
- orchestra-pit
- orchestra stall
- orchestra stalls
- orchestrate
- orchestration
- orchestrina
- orchestrion
- palm court orchestra
- philharmonic orchestra
- pops orchestra
- steel pan orchestra
- string orchestra
- symphony orchestra
Phrases with orchestra
Questions about orchestra
- What does orchestra mean?
- Orchestra means a large group of musicians who play together on various instruments, usually including some from strings, woodwind, brass and/or percussion; the instruments played by such a group.
- What is orchestra in Hindi?
- Orchestra in Hindi is बाजा (bājā), ऑर्केस्ट्रा (ŏrkesṭrā), आर्केस्ट्रा (ārkesṭrā). See Orchestra meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is orchestra?
- Orchestra is a noun.
- How do you pronounce orchestra?
- Orchestra is pronounced /ˈɔː.kɪs.tɹə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of orchestra?
- The plural of orchestra is orchestras.
Words near orchestra in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: orchestra (page history and authors); orchestra (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); orchestra (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); orchestra (Kannada 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-uk-orchestra.ogg, en-us-orchestra.ogg.
Cite this entry: “orchestra.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/orchestra. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.