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.
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 Delivered over gamelan ensembles and other traditional instrumentation, the song pleads for the city to return to its roots as a humble town without the new hotels, malls, and hectic traffic that now clog the city. Jon Emont, Foreign Affairs, 9 June 2015 The collection also includes a gamelan and other musical instruments, a 19th-century star calendar created to predict the likely destiny of a person born on a certain day, and a duo of 17th-century celestial royal maidens carved from pink volcanic tuff stone. Ashlea Halpern, TIME, 25 July 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 21 Nov. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on gamelan

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!