1
: a piece of music for the practice of a point of technique
2
: a composition built on a technical motive but played for its artistic value
Examples of étude in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Advertisement Something similar happened with the composition of the etudes themselves.
—
Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2024
Apparently, performing Musser’s etudes for marimba is a rite of passage for percussion majors.
—IEEE Spectrum, 1 Oct. 2023
But these songs are not so much referential as reverential: meditative daybreak etudes capable of conveying the feeling that all is right in the world.
—Pitchfork, 28 Sep. 2023
At its worst, the music on Everyone’s Crushed sounds like etudes – studies in experimentalism, finger exercises for tyros in the avant-garde.
—Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 26 May 2023
To treat those simply as etudes and exercises would be a disservice, and Ferrillo deployed the expressive acumen that BSO listeners know well, gracefully responding to the orchestra.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 27 Mar. 2023
In the etude inspired by Native American Margaret Bradshaw’s My World is Not Flat, a playful Pueblo dance song comes up now and then.
—Tim Diovanni, Dallas News, 10 Mar. 2021
So far, Wingfield has released a handful of etudes.
—Tim Diovanni, Dallas News, 27 Apr. 2020
After Barker’s tour through the obstacle course of Gubaidulina etudes, Manuel de Falla’s radiant Concerto for harpsichord, flute, oboe, clarinet, violin and cello ended the concert with a carnival of sound.
—BostonGlobe.com, 22 Oct. 2019
Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2024
Apparently, performing Musser’s etudes for marimba is a rite of passage for percussion majors.
—IEEE Spectrum, 1 Oct. 2023
But these songs are not so much referential as reverential: meditative daybreak etudes capable of conveying the feeling that all is right in the world.
—Pitchfork, 28 Sep. 2023
At its worst, the music on Everyone’s Crushed sounds like etudes – studies in experimentalism, finger exercises for tyros in the avant-garde.
—Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 26 May 2023
To treat those simply as etudes and exercises would be a disservice, and Ferrillo deployed the expressive acumen that BSO listeners know well, gracefully responding to the orchestra.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 27 Mar. 2023
In the etude inspired by Native American Margaret Bradshaw’s My World is Not Flat, a playful Pueblo dance song comes up now and then.
—Tim Diovanni, Dallas News, 10 Mar. 2021
So far, Wingfield has released a handful of etudes.
—Tim Diovanni, Dallas News, 27 Apr. 2020
After Barker’s tour through the obstacle course of Gubaidulina etudes, Manuel de Falla’s radiant Concerto for harpsichord, flute, oboe, clarinet, violin and cello ended the concert with a carnival of sound.
—BostonGlobe.com, 22 Oct. 2019
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'étude.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“étude.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/%C3%A9tude. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
étude
noun
: a piece of music for practice
Etymology
from French étude, literally, "study"
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