Diapason

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dʌɪəˈpeɪzÉ™n/, /dʌɪəˈpeɪsÉ™n/
• Rhymes: -eɪzÉ™n, -eɪsÉ™n

Origin

Latin diapason, from Ancient Greek διαπασων, that is διά + πασων (χορδων) ‘through all (notes)’.

Full definition of diapason

Noun

1. the range or scope of something, especially of notes in a scale, or of a particular musical instrument
• 1934: the piano curving like a conch, corollas giving out diapasons of light — Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer
• 1961: he could hear nothing except the rattle of the crickets and the swelling diapason of the frogs — Graham Greene, A Burnt-Out Case----