English Explanatory Dictionary

tenor

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A musical range or section higher than bass and lower than alto.
  2. A person, instrument, or group that performs in the tenor (higher than bass and lower than alto) range.
  3. A musical part or section that holds or performs the main melody, as opposed to the contratenor bassus and contratenor altus, who perform countermelodies.
  4. The lowest tuned in a ring of bells.
  5. Tone, as of a conversation.
  6. duration; continuance; a state of holding on in a continuous course; general tendency; career.
  7. The subject in a metaphor to which attributes are ascribed.
  8. Time to maturity of a bond.
  9. Stamp; character; nature.
  10. An exact copy of a writing, set forth in the words and figures of it. It differs from purport, which is only the substance or general import of the instrument.
  11. That course of thought which holds on through a discourse; the general drift or course of thought; purport; intent; meaning; understanding.
  12. A tenor saxophone.
adj
  1. Of or pertaining to the tenor part or range.

Pronunciation

/ˈtɛnə(ɹ)/ en-us-tenor.ogg en-uk-tenor.ogg

Word forms

tenor tenors tenour

Etymology

From Middle English tenour, from Anglo-Norman tenour, from Old French tenor (“substance, contents, meaning, sense; tenor part in music”), from Latin tenor (“course, continuance; holder”), from teneō (“to hold”). In music, from the notion of the one who holds the melody, as opposed to the countertenor.

Related words

Tenor in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Derived words

counter-tenor Old Tenor Middle Tenor New Tenor SATB tenor banjo tenor clef tenor drum tenor guitar tenor horn tenorial tenorist tenor of the times tenor recorder tenor sax tenor saxophone tenor trombone tenor viol

Translations

Bulgarian: тенор Estonian: tenor Finnish: tenori Georgian: ტენორი German: Tenor Hungarian: tenor Italian: tenore Norwegian Bokmål: tenor Norwegian Nynorsk: tenor Portuguese: tenor Russian: те́нор Swedish: tenor
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