: a double-reed woodwind instrument having a conical tube, a brilliant penetrating tone, and a usual range from B flat below middle C upward for over 2¹/₂ octaves
oboist noun

Illustration of oboe

Illustration of oboe

Examples of oboe in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web On oboe, Owens was a special standout, her clean, cool, nimble lines in gorgeous conversation with Francisco’s voice. Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 9 Feb. 2024 His sister received degrees in voice and oboe and Chapman University and his younger brother is studying opera there as well. Samantha Dunn, Orange County Register, 14 Feb. 2024 Seemingly merry bassoons and seemingly sprightly flutes and oboes opened the rambunctious ländler of the second movement, its rhythm ushering us past its telling (and slightly demonic) dissonances. Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 26 Jan. 2024 Bronfman was in dazzling form, unleashing what often felt like an impossible lightness through the first movement and sustaining an easy dialogue with the strings, the oboes, the horns, as though breezing through a party. Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 1 Dec. 2023 No one has ever become world-famous by playing the oboe. Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023 The cat is a clarinet, the duck an oboe, and brave Peter the strings. The New Yorker, 17 Nov. 2023 Alsop carefully managed the work’s many rhythmic shifts (including its detours into jazzy syncopation) and coaxed lovely detail from the orchestra, especially the opening passage of shuddering cellos, insistent bass and lovely interplays of saxophone, oboe and flute. Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 9 Nov. 2023 His father persuaded him to study the oboe, deciding that the instrument offered the best chance at a successful performing career. Frances Vinall, Washington Post, 26 Sep. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'oboe.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Italian, from French hautbois — more at hautbois

First Known Use

circa 1726, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of oboe was circa 1726

Dictionary Entries Near oboe

Cite this Entry

“Oboe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oboe. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

oboe

noun
: a musical instrument in the form of a slender tube that has a distinctive bright sound and that is played by blowing into a mouthpiece holding two reeds
oboist noun
Etymology

from Italian oboe "oboe," from French hautbois (same meaning), from haut "high" and bois "wood"

Word Origin
The musical instrument we now call an oboe was developed in France in the 17th century. The French called it a hautbois, a word pronounced something like English "o boy" and made up of haut, meaning "high," and bois, meaning "wood." The hautbois was the highest pitched member of a group of woodwind instruments played with a reed. For a time the English simply used the French word for the instrument. Sometimes they spelled it hautbois, sometimes hautboy, and sometimes they changed the spelling to oboy or hoboy. Meanwhile, the Italians took the French word as oboe, a spelling closer to the way they pronounced it. In the 18th century it became fashionable in England to prefer Italian musical terms. The English then started using the form oboe instead of hautbois, and so oboe is the form we use today.

More from Merriam-Webster on oboe

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