gramophone
Americannoun
noun
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US and Canadian name: phonograph. Also called: acoustic gramophone. a device for reproducing the sounds stored on a record: now usually applied to the nearly obsolete type that uses a clockwork motor and acoustic horn
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( as modifier )
a gramophone record
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the technique and practice of recording sound on disc
the gramophone has made music widely available
Other Word Forms
- gramophonic adjective
- gramophonical adjective
- gramophonically adverb
Etymology
Origin of gramophone
First recorded in 1887; originally a trademark; apparently inversion of phonogram now obsolete name for a phonographic cylinder
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In 1887 German-American inventor Emile Berliner invented the flat shellac disk, quickly saw its advantage for mass production, and patented a device to play them, the gramophone, that same year.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 14, 2026
"I want to dedicate this award to all the people who had to leave their homeland, their country to follow their dreams," Bad Bunny said as he accepted his groundbreaking gramophone.
From Barron's • Feb. 2, 2026
There’s an ongoing bet within the group: If Grupo Frontera wins an American Grammy, Juan Javier Cantu, the group’s accordion player and secondary vocalist, will tattoo a gramophone somewhere on his person.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 23, 2025
The original presenter was Franklin Engelmann, who played "a selection from the top shelf of current popular gramophone records".
From BBC • Apr. 15, 2024
“The recordings of my brother. The gramophone company in Paris wasn’t interested anymore, but every night I played the ten recordings we’d made, until most of them were worn out. And his song.”
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
