Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🎤 Four performers 4️⃣ Group of four 🎼 Music for four
quartet

quartet

30 3.5
A group of four musicians who play or sing together
  • noun
  • /kwɔrˈtɛt/
translation icon : cuarteto
  • I was at the performance that the Cronos Quartet did here in Cambridge when they were first touring it.
  • a string quartet

It's like there's a violin string quartet.

Examples

  • Hey, look, I'm the new drummer in the Dorothea Williams Quartet, and we're kickin' off our tour with a show at The Half Note tonight.

    Soul (2020)

  • I used to be in a quartet in Skokie, Illinois.

    The Usual Suspects (1995)

  • Tell that quartet to sing again.

    State of the Union (1948)

  • Is the quartet any good?

    Footlight Parade (1933)

  • How is the string quartet coming along?

    A Guy Thing (2003)

  • This year, I'm going to try to get a live quartet.

    Taking Woodstock (2009)

  • The lead singer of the quartet gave his hand to the woman and danced with her.

    Academic text (1991)

  • In the background, a male quartet sings an off-key version of "I Saw the Light."

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Since 1993, university quartets have ranked either first or second at the college level.

    Academic text (1990)

  • The talented string quartet performed beautifully at the concert last night.

Synonyms

quartette
vsquartet
  • UK
6.4

A group of four musicians or singers who perform together

is the same meaning but uses the simpler modern spelling

Compounds

string quartet
8 3.5

A group of two violins, a viola, and a cello or music written for that group

barbershop quartet
4 4.0

Four singers who sing without instruments in close harmony, often in a soft, emotional style

piano quartet
4.0

A group of four musicians, piano, violin, viola and cello, or a piece written for them

How Big

orchestra
184 3.4
big band
16 3.0
band
∞ 1.0
quartet
30 3.5
trio
18 3.3
duo
  • Specialized
7 3.2

Surface Forms

quartet singular
quartets plural

Morphology

quartet = quart (semi-transparent) = quart + et

The element 'quart-' encodes 'four' but is not a productive or commonly known standalone base for many learners, so the link is only partly clear.

Etymology

Quartet comes from an old Italian word that means 'four', the same root as quarter and the prefix quart-. So a quartet is a group of four musicians who play or sing together.