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percussion

noun

Simple meaning

The collision of two bodies to produce a sound.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

perkuhshuhn

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

pɚˈkʌʃən

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. music

    The section of an orchestra or band containing percussion instruments; such instruments considered as a group; in bands, may be separate from drum kits.

  2. countable

    The collision of two bodies in order to produce a sound.

  3. The act of exploding a percussion cap

  4. countable

    The detonation of a percussion cap in a firearm.

  5. countable

    The sound so produced.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Section / playing

percussion instrumentpercussion sectionpercussion ensemble

Tapping

chest percussion

Sound

percussion sound

Other combinations

percussion cappercussion notedirect percussion

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • percussion capnounCompound term

    A detonator that explodes when struck.

  • percussion instrumentnounCompound term

    A musical instrument in which the sound is produced by one object striking another.

  • percussion sectionnounCompound term

    The section of a band or orchestra that plays percussion instruments.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.