Definition of gamut
1 : the whole series of recognized musical notes
2 : an entire range or series ran the gamut from praise to contempt
People Are Reading
gamut was our Word of the Day on 05/31/2014. Hear the podcast!
Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP
Examples of gamut in a Sentence
She experienced the full gamut of human emotions.
the actress's work runs the gamut from goofy comedies to serious historical dramas
Recent Examples of gamut from the Web
-
California’s collaborations with China precede Brown and run the gamut from clean vehicles to emissions trading.
-
And like the hats themselves, the groups recognized ran the gamut in terms of services provided.
-
In his 125th Xfinity race, Dillon ran the gamut through 200 laps.
-
The women featured in Brody’s book offer advice for coping emotionally that runs the gamut from learning how to not blame yourself for mistakes to not make any major career decisions in your first few months back to work.
-
The show spent most of its three hours, fittingly, on performances and awards rather than hosting gimmicks, with 15 performances that ran the gamut of genres from hip-hop to pop to dance to rock to country.
-
Harness styles, like women’s underwear, run the gamut from granny panties to leather thongs.
-
Sextoons runs the gamut from the sophisticated to the sophomoric.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gamut'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
To get the lowdown on gamut, we have to dive to the bottom of a musical scale developed by 11th-century musician and monk Guido of Arezzo. Guido called the first line of his bass staff gamma and the first note in his scale ut, which meant that gamma ut was the term for a note written on the first staff line. In time, gamma ut underwent a shortening to gamut but climbed the scale of meaning. It expanded to cover all the notes of Guido's scale, then all the notes in the range of an instrument, and, eventually, an entire range of any sort.
Synonym Discussion of gamut
GAMUT Defined for English Language Learners
gamut
playDefinition of gamut for English Language Learners
-
: a range or series of related things
Learn More about gamut
-
Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for gamut Spanish Central: Translation of gamut Nglish: Translation of gamut for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of gamut for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about gamut
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up gamut? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Writing? Check your grammar now!