harmonica

noun

har·​mon·​i·​ca här-ˈmä-ni-kə 

1

: glass harmonica

2

: a small rectangular wind instrument with free reeds recessed in air slots from which tones are sounded by exhaling and inhaling

harmonicist

här-ˈmä-nə-sist 

noun

Examples of harmonica in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

It’s fostered when patients practice inhaling through the nose while exhaling slowly through pursed lips, as if whistling or playing the harmonica. —Matt Fuchs, TIME, 24 Oct. 2024

Since then she's played around on a harmonica, keyboard and recorder. —Madeline Mitchell, The Enquirer, 15 Oct. 2024

Williams wrote him a folk-sounding score, enlisting harmonica master Toots Thielemans at its center, offering an unexpected, original solution to the assignment. —Peter Debruge, Variety, 24 Oct. 2024

Of playing the harmonica onstage in Kingston in 1975, when the Wailers warmed up for Marvin Gaye; of the Wailers’ first New York appearance, in 1973, at Max’s Kansas City, opening for an up-and-comer named Bruce Springsteen; of smoking a spliff with Marley’s mother, in Delaware. —Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Italian armonica, feminine of armonico harmonious

First Known Use

1762, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing harmonica

• glass harmonica

Kids Definition

harmonica

noun

har·​mon·​i·​ca här-ˈmän-i-kə 

: a small musical instrument that is held in the hand and played by the mouth and that produces a sound through metal reeds which vibrate as air is blown or drawn past them