gamut

American  

[gam-uht] / ˈgæm ət /

noun

1. the entire scale or range.

   the gamut of dramatic emotion from grief to joy.

   Synonyms:

   extent, reach, scope, breadth, sweep

2. Music.

   1. the whole series of recognized musical notes.

   2. the major scale.

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gamut British  

/ ˈgæmət /

noun

1. entire range or scale, as of emotions

2. music

   1. a scale, esp (in medieval theory) one starting on the G on the bottom line of the bass staff

   2. the whole range of notes

3. physics the range of chromaticities that can be obtained by mixing three colours

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Etymology

Origin of gamut

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Medieval Latin; contraction of gamma ut, equivalent to gamma, used to represent the first or lowest tone (G) in the medieval scale + ut (later do ); the notes of the scale ( ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si ) being named from a Latin hymn to St. John the Baptist: Ut queant laxis re sonare fibris. Mi ra gestorum fa muli tuorum, Sol ve polluti la bii reatum, S ancte I ohannes

Example Sentences

From Hollywood actors to Olympic athletes and politicians, California’s newest Hall of Fame class runs the gamut in talent and achievements.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 3, 2026

The tools automate workflows and perform tasks across a gamut of job functions with little human input.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 7, 2026

They run the gamut, from creating a 50-year mortgage to banning large investors from buying up single-family homes.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 20, 2026

These couples' reasons run the gamut from high child-rearing costs to career concerns.

From Barron's • Jan. 5, 2026

Their environments ran the gamut, from sword-and-sorcery settings to cyberpunk-themed planetwide cities to irradiated postapocalyptic zombie-infested wastelands.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Related Words

• spectrum