Gamut

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈgæm.É™t/

Origin

1520s, original sense “lowest note of musical scale”, from Medieval Latin gamma ut, from gamma ("(Greek letter, corresponding to the musical note G)") + ut ("first solfège syllable, now replaced by do"). In modern terms, “G do” – the first note of the G scale

Online Etymology Dictionary

. Meaning later extended to mean all the notes of a scale, and then more generally any complete range.

Full definition of gamut

Noun

1. A (normally) complete range.
• 19??, Dorothy Parker, review of Katharine Hepburn in the Broadway play The LakeShe delivered a striking performance that ran the gamut of emotions, from A to B.
• 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Chapter 2The entire gamut of the view's changes should have been known to her; its winter aspect, spring, summer and autumn; how storms came up from the sea; how the moors shuddered and brightened as the clouds went over; she should have noted the red spot where the villas were building; and the criss-cross of lines where the allotments were cut...
2. (music) All the notes in the musical scale.
3. All the colours available to a device such as a monitor or printer.

Derived terms

• run the gamut

Related terms

• ut