trill
/tɹɪl/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Scotland/tɾɪl/
trill noun: a rapid alternation between an indicated note and the one above it as an ornament; in musical notation usually indicated with the letters tr written above the staff.
Noun
trill (plural trills)
- A rapid alternation between an indicated note and the one above it as an ornament; in musical notation usually indicated with the letters tr written above the staff.
- A type of consonantal sound that is produced by vibrations of the tongue against the place of articulation: for example, Spanish ⟨rr⟩, /r/.
- A tremulous high-pitched vocal sound produced by cats.
Verb (1)
trill (third-person singular simple present trills, present participle trilling, simple past and past participle trilled)
- To create a trill sound; to utter trills or a trill; to play or sing in tremulous vibrations of sound; to have a trembling sound; to quaver.
- To judge of trilling notes and tripping feet.1692, John Dryden, Cleomenes, the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy
- Synonyms:
- warble
- To impart the quality of a trill to; to utter as, or with, a trill.
- to trill a note, or the letter r
- The sober-suited songstress trills her lay.a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC
Verb (2)
trill (third-person singular simple present trills, present participle trilling, simple past and past participle trilled)
- To trickle.
- I come now from seeing of a shepheard at Medoc[…]who had no signe at all of genitorie parts: But where they should be, are three little holes, by which his water doth continually tril from him.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 30, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
- And now and then an ample tear trilled down / Her delicate cheek.c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
Verb (3)
trill (third-person singular simple present trills, present participle trilling, simple past and past participle trilled)
- To twirl.
Adjective
trill (comparative triller, superlative trillest)
- True; respected.
- All my trill niggas know who be bringin da funk / Lees and shell toes like it's Black History Month2007, “Black History Month”, in The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, performed by Saul Williams
- LAMAR: Oh, really? That's a nice change from fools comin' up on us. / FRANKLIN: That's trill, homie. / LAMAR: You damn straight that's trill, partner, but it's a shame I don't believe it. You wanna drop some notes on that shit, I'll give you the odds, homie.2013, Grand Theft Auto V, Rockstar Games, level/area: Repossession
trill meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Malayalam
trill in Tamil
- ஆடொலி, உருட்டொலி, நடுங்கொலி, நீடதிர்வொலி, அதிர்வொலி
trill in Marathi
- rapid alternation of notes
- स्वरकंप svarkampa
trill in Urdu
- بل کھانا, گرنا, لڑھکنا
trill in Malayalam
- sing, warble, chirp
- കൂജനംചെയ്യുക, ചിലയ്ക്കുക, പാടുക, ഇമ്പമായ ശബ്ദം പുറപ്പെടുവിക്കുക, രാഗം മൂളുക, രാഗാലാപനം ചെയ്യുക
More languagesFewer languages
- trill in Kannada
- ಅದಿರುಲಿ
- trill in Tagalog
- pakatal, kiyebro
- trill in Arabic
- تَكْرِير takrīr
- trill in Thai
- เสียงรัว
- trill in Vietnamese
- láy rền
Examples of trill in a sentence
- Whisper'd sounds / Of waters, trilling from the riven stone.
- Middle finger to the critics, me and my nigga Skrillex / You know we finna kill it, A$AP we the trillest2013, “Wild for the Night”, performed by A$AP Rocky:
Synonyms of trill
Forms of trill
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | trills |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | trills |
| present participle | trilling |
| past participle | trilled |
| past | trilled |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | triller |
| superlative | trillest |
Origin of trill
From Middle English trillen, from Italian trillo, trillare. Compare German trillern, Norwegian trille, Swedish trilla.
Perhaps identical to Etymology 3, but compare the same sense of drill, and German trillen, drillen.
Probably related to Old English þweran (“to twirl, stir”). Compare twirl, thirl, and Swedish trilla, Norwegian trille, etc.
Words formed from trill
Words that rhyme with trill
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- chill
- drill
- Seville
- will
- skill
- still
- frill
- mil
- sill
- swill
- fulfill
- goodwill
- till
- until
- brazil
- downhill
- prill
- quadrille
- shill
- shrill
- thrill
- Chapel Hill
- jill
- McGill
- nill
- squill
- uphill
- Walton-on-the-Hill
- Baskerville
- dill
- grille
- he'll
- instill
- Ithkuil
- krill
- manille
- nil
- phil
- purple pill
- refill
- remill
- rill
- thill
- twill
- vill
- vril
- 'til
- 'twill
Questions about trill
- What does trill mean?
- Trill means a rapid alternation between an indicated note and the one above it as an ornament; in musical notation usually indicated with the letters tr written above the staff.
- What is trill in Tamil?
- Trill in Tamil is ஆடொலி, உருட்டொலி, நடுங்கொலி. See Trill meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use trill in a sentence?
- Whisper'd sounds / Of waters, trilling from the riven stone.
- What part of speech is trill?
- Trill can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce trill?
- Trill is pronounced /tɹɪl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of trill?
- The plural of trill is trills.
Words near trill in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: trill (page history and authors); trill (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); trill (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); trill (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); trill (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-trill.wav.
Cite this entry: “trill.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/trill. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.