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piano

noun · adverb · adjective · verb

Simple meaning

A large musical instrument with black and white keys that make sounds

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

peeanoh

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

piˈænoʊ

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

    A keyboard instrument that is played by depressing keys that cause hammers to strike tuned strings and produce sounds

  2. music

    A percussive keyboard musical instrument, usually ranging over seven octaves, with white and black colored keys, played by pressing these keys, causing hammers to strike strings.

adverb

  1. music

    Softly, as a dynamic in a piece of music.

adjective

  1. musicused chiefly as a direction or description in music

    Soft; in a quiet, subdued tone

    “The piano passages in the composition.”

  2. in extended use

    Gentle, soft, subdued.

verb

  1. of or with fingers

    To move (the fingers) up and down on, similar to the motions of a pianist playing the piano.

  2. To become softer and less intense.

  3. To equip with a piano.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Softly, as a dynamic in a piece of music.

Used this way, piano is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a musical use: it is everyday language among musicians and listeners, and specialised outside that.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Music/performance
  • Arts writing

Nearby words

  • pianissimo , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

piano musicpiano playerpiano sonatapiano teacherupright pianopiano concertosolo pianopiano accompaniment

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • piano dampernounCompound term

    Damper consisting of a small felted block that drops onto a piano string to stop its vibration.

  • piano keyboardnounCompound term

    A bank of keys on a musical instrument.

  • piano lessonnounCompound term

    A lesson in playing the piano.

  • piano makernounCompound term

    A person who makes pianos.

  • piano musicnounCompound term

    Sheet music to be played on a piano.

  • piano playernounCompound term

    A person who plays the piano.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: softly

pianissimoRare

Antonyms

Sense: softly

forte

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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.