gamelan

noun

gam·​elan ˈga-mə-ˌlan How to pronounce gamelan (audio)
-ˌlän
: an Indonesian orchestra made up especially of percussion instruments (such as gongs, xylophones, and drums)

Examples of gamelan in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The classical dance involved exquisite hand gestures and halting body movements set to a gamelan orchestra. Scott Mowbray Amrita Chandradas, New York Times, 20 Jan. 2025 The title track starts off sounding like gamelan music, then turns into a busy-grooved evocation on finding catharsis by going for a swim at a busy beach, creating her own ecstatic iteration of traditional baptismal blues imagery. Jon Dolan, Rolling Stone, 15 Jan. 2025 Beat communicated with advanced and exotic languages, its wide-ranging vocabulary including experimental, art-rock,pop, jazz, funk, new-wave and gamelan elements. Bob Gendron, Chicago Tribune, 2 Nov. 2024 Debussy hovers around the enclosure of the Javanese village at the International Exposition of 1889 in Paris, his mind expanded by the gamelan ensemble. Yiyun Li, Harper's Magazine, 23 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for gamelan 

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Javanese, going back to Old Javanese gamĕlan "percussion instrument, ensemble of percussion instruments," from gamĕl- "playing of a percussion instrument" + -an, noun-forming suffix

First Known Use

1816, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of gamelan was in 1816

Dictionary Entries Near gamelan

Cite this Entry

“Gamelan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gamelan. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

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