From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsymphonysym‧pho‧ny /ˈsɪmfəni/ ●○○ noun (plural symphonies) [countable] 1 APMa long piece of music usually in four parts, written for an orchestra Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony2 APM (also symphony orchestra) a large group of classical musicians led by a conductor —symphonic /sɪmˈfɒnɪk $ -ˈfɑː-/ adjective
Examples from the Corpus
symphony• Looking back, I thought it was a symphony from hell.• A tape deck played a Beethoven symphony and children played with Fisher-Price toys.• Who else has had five symphonies of his own played to international audiences by the age of nine?• the St. Louis Symphony• Then the war came and after the war the concert-managers offered me a chance to do all the Mahler symphonies.• When he married her, she was a reserved, very plain girl who played the harp in a provincial symphony orchestra.• Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6• Scores by Holst, Faure, Elgar and Cherubini are also in store during the symphony subscription series.• We are not expecting to be a new board for the symphony.• It is also a haven for the symphony, ballet and theater.• The symphony is looking for a new conductor.Origin symphony (1200-1300) Old French symphonie, from Latin symphonia, from Greek, from symphonos “sounding together”, from syn- ( → SYN-) + phone “voice, sound” 