Word.ws English Dictionary

unison

/ˈjunɪsən/

unison noun: identical pitch between two notes or sounds; the simultaneous playing of notes of identical pitch (or separated by one or more octaves).

Noun

unison (usually uncountable, plural unisons)

  1. (usually, acoustics) Identical pitch between two notes or sounds; the simultaneous playing of notes of identical pitch (or separated by one or more octaves).
    • The unison has a pitch ratio of 1:1.
    • The young principal timpanist, Timothy Genis, was superb throughout, though his sidekick timpanist sometimes lagged in the final unisons.2007 July 16, James R. Oestreich, “With Levine as Tour Guide, a Journey Through Mahler’s Third Symphony”, in New York Times
  2. (usually, acoustics) A sound or note having the same pitch as another, especially when used as the base note for an interval; a unison string.
    • I could not behold him without emotion; when he accosted me, his well-known voice made my heart vibrate, like a musical chord, when its unison is struck.1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC
  3. (usually) The state of being in harmony or agreement; harmonious agreement or togetherness, synchronisation.
    • Everyone moved in unison, but the sudden change in weight distribution capsized the boat.
  4. (broadly, usually) Two or more voices speaking or singing the same words together.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: UNISON

UNISON

  1. (UK, labor union) A public-sector trade union in the United Kingdom.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Unison

Unison

  1. Alternative letter-case form of UNISON (“British trade union for public-sector workers”).

Examples of unison in a sentence

  • The heroes of dwarfdom were in unison, and a new policy was forged.
  • After Richt got his shower, the Miami players surrounding him while yelling “YEET!” in unison.
  • Helmets nodded approval almost in unison as the ordies began to perform their jobs.

All 25 example sentences with unison

Forms of unison

pluralunisons

Origin of unison

From Middle English unisoun, from Middle French unisson, from Medieval Latin ūnisonus (“having the same sound”), from ūni- + sonus (“sound”).

Since 1993. Created as a play on unison, as the united workers act in unison.

Words formed from unison

Questions about unison

What does unison mean?
Unison means identical pitch between two notes or sounds; the simultaneous playing of notes of identical pitch (or separated by one or more octaves).
What part of speech is unison?
Unison can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce unison?
Unison is pronounced /ˈjunɪsən/.
What is the plural of unison?
The plural of unison is unisons.

Words near unison in the dictionary

  1. unisolates
  2. unisolating
  3. unisolvent
  4. unisometric
  5. unisomorphic
  6. unison
  7. unisonal
  8. unisonally
  9. unisonance
  10. unisonant
  11. unisonoric

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unison (page history and authors); UNISON (page history and authors); Unison (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-unison.wav.

Cite this entry: “unison.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unison. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.