[syn: symphony orchestra, symphony, philharmonic]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Symphony \Sym"pho*ny\, n.; pl. Symphonies. [F. symphonie (cf.
It. sinfonia), L. symphonia, Gr. ?; sy`n with + ? a sound,
the voice. See Phonetic.]
1. A consonance or harmony of sounds, agreeable to the ear,
whether the sounds are vocal or instrumental, or both.
[1913 Webster]
The trumpets sound,
And warlike symphony in heard around. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
2. A stringed instrument formerly in use, somewhat resembling
the virginal.
[1913 Webster]
With harp and pipe and symphony. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Mus.)
(a) An elaborate instrumental composition for a full
orchestra, consisting usually, like the sonata, of
three or four contrasted yet inwardly related
movements, as the allegro, the adagio, the minuet and
trio, or scherzo, and the finale in quick time. The
term has recently been applied to large orchestral
works in freer form, with arguments or programmes to
explain their meaning, such as the "symphonic poems"
of Liszt. The term was formerly applied to any
composition for an orchestra, as overtures, etc., and
still earlier, to certain compositions partly vocal,
partly instrumental.
(b) An instrumental passage at the beginning or end, or in
the course of, a vocal composition; a prelude,
interlude, or postude; a ritornello.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
symphony
n 1: a long and complex sonata for symphony orchestra [syn:
symphony, symphonic music]
2: a large orchestra; can perform symphonies; "we heard the
Vienna symphony" [syn: symphony orchestra, symphony,
philharmonic]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
128 Moby Thesaurus words for "symphony":
German band, Philharmonic, accord, accordance, affinity, agape,
agreement, amity, attune, attunement, band, big band,
bonds of harmony, brass, brass band, brass choir, brass quintet,
brass section, brasses, brotherly love, callithumpian band,
caritas, cement of friendship, chamber orchestra, charity, chime,
chiming, classic, classical music, combo, communion, community,
community of interests, compatibility, concentus, concert,
concert band, concert music, concertino, concerto, concerto grosso,
concord, concordance, congeniality, consonance, consonancy,
consort, correspondence, desks, diapason, dixieland band, empathy,
ensemble, esprit, esprit de corps, euphony, feeling of identity,
fellow feeling, fellowship, frictionlessness, gamelan orchestra,
good vibes, good vibrations, group, happy family, harmonics,
harmony, heavy harmony, homophony, identity, jazz band, jug band,
kinship, like-mindedness, longhair music, love, military band,
monochord, monody, mutuality, oneness, orchestra, peace,
philharmonic, quartet, quintet, ragtime band, rapport,
rapprochement, reciprocity, rhapsody, rock-and-roll group,
semiclassical music, sextet, sharing, sinfonietta, skiffle band,
solidarity, steel band, street band, string band, string choir,
string orchestra, string quartet, strings, swing band, sympathy,
symphonia, symphonic music, symphonic ode, symphony orchestra,
synchronism, synchronization, team spirit, three-part harmony,
tone poem, trio, tune, understanding, union, unison, unisonance,
unity, waits, woodwind, woodwind choir, woodwind quartet,
woodwinds
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
Symphony
Lotus Development's successor to their
Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet. Unlike 1-2-3, Symphony allowed a
limited form of multitasking. The user could switch
manually between it and MS-DOS and separate graph and
spreadsheet windows could be opened simultaneously and would
be updated automatically when cells were changed. In
addition, a small word processor could be opened in a third
window. These all could be printed out on the same report.
Symphony could read and write Lotus 1-2-3 files and had
interactive graphical output and a word processor, thus making
it effectively a report generator. Unlike 1-2-3, Symphony was
not a great commercial success.
(1995-03-28)