contrabass

American  

[kon-truh-beys] / ˈkɒn trəˌbeɪs /

noun

1. (in any family of instruments) the member below the bass.

2. (in the violin family) the double bass.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of such instruments.

   a contrabass trombone.

contrabass British  

/ ˌkɒntrəˈbeɪsɪst, ˌkɒntrəˈbeɪs, -ˈbæs- /

noun

1. a member of any of various families of musical instruments that is lower in pitch than the bass

2. another name for double bass

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adjective

1. of or denoting the instrument of a family that is lower than the bass

Other Word Forms

• contrabassist noun

Etymology

Origin of contrabass

From Italian, dating back to 1590–1600; contrabasso

Example Sentences

She holds her head high whether playing piccolo or the 6-foot contrabass flute, as if her instrument were a magic wand used to activate her voice in the highest registers and the deepest.

From Los Angeles Times

Smerilli performed most of the instruments himself, including the inky depths of a contrabass clarinet, which he purchased and learned just for this score.

From Los Angeles Times

It was a deep, rolling, glorious contrabass; once described as the sound that "Moses heard when addressed by God."

From BBC

Chase makes virtuosically parched, percussive exhalations; she can be sheerly sweet on the standard flute and has, on the enormous contrabass flute, the milky penetration of a whale’s deep-sea call.

From New York Times

Terror turns to mere sadness as a muted ensemble of bassoon and three contrabass clarinets — a feature of Eastman’s idiosyncratic, extravagant orchestration — offers a stunned postlude.

From New York Times