quintet

noun

quin·​tet kwin-ˈtet How to pronounce quintet (audio)
1
: a musical composition or movement for five instruments or voices
2
: a group or set of five: such as
a
: the performers of a quintet
b
: a basketball team

Did you know?

A classical quintet is usually written for strings (usually two violins, two violas, and a cello) or woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn), but brass quintets (two trumpets, horn, trombone, and tuba) have also become popular in North America recently. In jazz, Miles Davis led two famous quintets. In pop music, the Miracles, the Temptations, and the Jackson 5 were immensely popular vocal quintets. In rock, one of the most common instrumental lineups has been a quintet consisting of two guitars, a bass, a keyboard, and drums; famous rock quintets have included the Grateful Dead and the Beach Boys.

Examples of quintet in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Of the quintet, this is the only one that pairs its base color with a Bianco Leda interior that features Nero Ade accents and bronze contrast stitching. Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 9 Apr. 2024 In addition to the Pac-12’s quintet, the ACC (3), SEC (2), Big Ten (2) and Big 12 (2) all have multiple Sweet 16 teams. Jeff Metcalfe, The Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2024 Earlier this month, the quintet — Yeonjun, Soobin, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and HueningKai — announced their upcoming sixth mini album, Minisode 3: Tomorrow, due April 1, while also unveiling a new logo and color scheme for their upcoming era. Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 19 Mar. 2024 Another quintet of live and moving roaches were under a kitchen prep table. David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 20 Feb. 2024 The latter, premiered by Coleman’s own Imani Winds in 2018, is a musical tribute to a quintet of Black women: Maya Angelou (whose book and poem inspired the piece), mathematician Katherine Johnson, tennis champion Serena Williams, Olympic boxer Claressa Shields and former first lady Michelle Obama. Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 26 Jan. 2024 In addition to flags, spacecraft parts, and poop, Apollo astronauts left behind a quintet of seismic stations on the moon’s surface. IEEE Spectrum, 14 Mar. 2024 But as a work of dramatic fiction, 3 Body Problem never makes a compelling enough argument for why its central quintet would be invested in this — and, thus, why the audience should be. Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 9 Mar. 2024 No other team – including the Dodgers – can match that quintet. Dan Schlossberg, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'quintet.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

quintet from Italian quintetto, from quinto fifth, from Latin quintus; quintette from French, from Italian quintetto

First Known Use

1764, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of quintet was in 1764

Dictionary Entries Near quintet

Cite this Entry

“Quintet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quintet. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

quintet

noun
quin·​tet kwin-ˈtet How to pronounce quintet (audio)
1
a
: a musical composition for five instruments or voices
b
: the performers of a quintet
2
: a group or set of five
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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