guitar

noun

gui·​tar gə-ˈtär 

gi-

especially Southern and Midland US also ˈgi-ˌtär

: a flat-bodied stringed instrument with a long fretted neck and usually six strings played with a pick or with the fingers

guitarist

gə-ˈtär-ist 

gi-

noun

Illustration of guitar

• 1 electric
• 2 acoustic

Examples of guitar in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Kerry McCoy’s guitar juices up a mid-song gallop by abruptly pivoting from big and noisy to compressed and snarling; at the climax, everything cuts out for a second to spotlight a Daniel Tracy drum fill. — Patrick Lyons, Pitchfork, 13 Oct. 2026

Yamaha was doing it in 1993 with the VL1, mathematically recreating the airflow, reeds, and resonances of saxophones and other acoustic instruments, while Line 6, among others, later applied the same broad idea to guitar amps. — New Atlas, 13 Oct. 2026

Falling hard for Ariana Grande fueled Mac’s eight-minute sultry expedition, which took form in early 2016 when Dahi sent a Sunni Colon guitar loop to the Pittsburgh rapper. — Michael Saponara, Billboard, 13 Oct. 2026

Each feels expansively lush without ever losing that genuinely old school rock and roll momentum, in large part due to the hypnotic drumming of Adam Shumski and inventive lead guitars of Dan Ryan. — Brendan Hay, SPIN, 12 Oct. 2026

Word History

Etymology

French guitare, from Spanish guitarra, from Arabic qītār, from Greek kithara cithara

First Known Use

1668, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing guitar

• air guitar
• bass guitar
• bottleneck guitar
• Hawaiian guitar
• lap steel guitar
• pedal steel guitar
• resonator guitar
• resophonic guitar
• steel guitar

Rhymes for guitar

• adar
• afar
• ajar
• alar
• alvar
• bazaar
• bizarre
• boxcar
• boyar
• bulbar
• cachar
• cigar

Kids Definition

guitar

noun

gui·​tar gə-ˈtär 

: a stringed instrument with a flat body, a long neck with frets, and usually six strings that are played with the fingers or with a pick

guitarist

-əst 

noun

Etymology

from French guitare "guitar," derived from Arabic qītār (same meaning)