noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The part or section one octave lower than bass.
2. 2
   largest and lowest member of the violin family wordnet
3. 3
   Double bass; string bass.
4. 4
   Any of the several contrabass instruments.
5. 5
   The person or instrument performing the contrabass part.

Adjective

1. 1
   pitched an octave below normal bass instrumental or vocal range wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

amatibassbass fiddlebass fiddlebass violbow

Etymology

From Italian contrabbasso, from contra (“against”) + basso (“low”).

Related phrases

contrabass buglecontrabass clarinetcontrabass recordercontrabass saxcontrabass saxophonecontrabass saxophonisttriple contrabass violdouble bassmusical instrumentstring bass

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.