Marimba

//məˈɹɪm.bə// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A percussion instrument with African origins, similar to a xylophone with resonators, but much lower in range and darker in timbre.

    "The default ringtone for your iPhone is a marimba sound, but if you'd like to change it, start at the Home screen, then tap on the Settings icon."

  2. 2
    a percussion instrument with wooden bars tuned to produce a chromatic scale and with resonators; played with small mallets wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
batterybellbellsbonescastanetscelesta

Example

More examples

"You really do play the marimba quite well."

Etymology

From Portuguese marimba, via a Bantu source, perhaps Kimbundu marimba (“xylophone”).

Related phrases

diamond marimbamusical instrument

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