- a plucked stringed instrument originating in Spain, usually having six strings, a flat sounding board with a circular sound hole in the centre, a flat back, and a fretted fingerboard. Range: more than three octaves upwards from E on the first leger line below the bass staff
See also electric guitar, bass guitar
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
gui•tar /gɪˈtɑr/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Music and Dancea stringed musical instrument with a long neck;
a flat, somewhat violinlike body;
and usually six strings.
gui•tar
(gi tär′),USA pronunciation n.
- Music and Dancea stringed musical instrument with a long, fretted neck, a flat, somewhat violinlike body, and typically six strings, which are plucked with the fingers or with a plectrum.
- Arabic kītārah
Greek kithára kithara - Spanish guitarra
- 1615–25
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
guitar /ɡɪˈtɑː/ n
'guitar' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
acoustic
- air guitar
- bass
- bass guitar
- bolero
- bridge
- Byrds
- capo
- drum'n'bass
- electric guitar
- Falla
- fingerboard
- flamenco
- fret
- Fröding
- gittern
- Goth
- grunge
- jota
- open
- Paul
- pedal steel guitar
- pick
- pick-up
- plectrum
- Rodrigo
- Rolling Stones
- Silverchair
- sing
- slide
- soukous
- soundbox
- Spanish guitar
- Stevens
- stop
- string
- strum
- table
- toy
- tuning
- ukulele
- wah-wah
- wire
- acoustic guitar
- backup
- balalaika
- bandore
- bandurria
- banjo
- bottleneck