quartet

noun

quar·​tet kwȯr-ˈtet How to pronounce quartet (audio)
variants or less commonly quartette
1
: a musical composition for four instruments or voices
2
: a group or set of four
especially : the performers of a quartet

Examples of quartet in a Sentence

He is a member of a jazz quartet. a string quartet by Beethoven The author wrote a quartet of novels about the same character.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Surprise Help In 2020, a number theorist named Lue Pan posted a proof about modular forms that didn’t initially seem connected to the quartet’s problem. Joseph Howlett, Quanta Magazine, 2 June 2025 For three decades now, this quartet of college pals have produced an impressive body of work that is eminently hummable, a cornucopia of earworms that everyone knows even if most folks would fail to come up with the names of their songs. Marco Della Cava, USA Today, 2 June 2025 This weekend, watch Steve Carell, Ramy Youssef, Jason Schwartzman, and Cory Michael Smith play a quartet of one percenters who meet at a remote mountain lodge during a financial crisis, each with their own plans and schemes to come out on top. K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 30 May 2025 Among those dreamers lucky enough to reach out toward their hero was a quartet of travel basketball teammates whose parents drove them down from Pennsylvania. Sam Cohn, Baltimore Sun, 29 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for quartet

Word History

Etymology

Italian quartetto, from quarto fourth, from Latin quartus — more at quart

First Known Use

1773, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of quartet was in 1773

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Quartet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quartet. Accessed 9 Jun. 2025.

Kids Definition

quartet

noun
quar·​tet
variants also quartette
1
a
: a musical composition for four instruments or voices
b
: the performers of a quartet
2
: a group or set of four

More from Merriam-Webster on quartet

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