orchestra

The word “orchestra” means a large group of musicians who play together, typically combining strings, woodwind, brass, and percussion. In plain terms, a group of musicians playing together, or the area where they sit.

“Orchestra” is pronounced AW-kihs-truh (/ˈoɹ.kɪs.tɹə/ in IPA).

Here is “orchestra” used in a sentence: “The orchestra tuned their instruments as the audience took their seats.”

“Orchestra” is a noun.

The word “orchestra” comes from Ancient Greek. From Ancient Greek orkhḗstra, the semicircular space in front of a Greek theatre stage where the chorus danced — from orkhéomai, "to dance.".

“Orchestra” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the B1 level.

“Orchestra” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a large group of musicians who play together, typically combining strings, woodwind, brass, and percussion.

A traditional orchestra is a large ensemble combining strings, woodwind, brass, and percussion, with the string section at its core. Bands — concert bands, brass bands, or pop and rock groups — are usually built around wind or amplified instruments and lack an orchestral string section. Orchestras also typically perform under a conductor, which most small bands do not.

An orchestra is a group of musicians; a symphony is a large-scale musical work, usually in several movements. Symphony orchestra means an orchestra big enough to perform symphonies, and in American English "the symphony" is common shorthand for the local symphony orchestra.

The orchestra is the area of a theatre or concert hall just in front of the stage where the musicians sit, often lowered into an orchestra pit. By extension, American theatres call the ground-floor audience seating nearest the stage orchestra seats — the section British English calls the stalls.

There is no fixed number: the word denotes any large group of musicians combining strings, woodwind, brass, and percussion. A full symphony orchestra typically fields roughly 70 to 100 players, while a chamber orchestra is smaller, often under 50.