quartet

noun

quar·​tet kwȯr-ˈtet 

variants or less commonly quartette

1

: a musical composition for four instruments or voices

2

: a group or set of four

especially : the performers of a quartet

Examples of quartet in a Sentence

He is a member of a jazz quartet.

a string quartet by Beethoven

The author wrote a quartet of novels about the same character.

Recent Examples on the Web

The Wild evenly split their quartet of regular season games with Colorado, winning in a shootout and losing in regulation at home, then winning in regulation and losing in a shootout at Ball Arena. —Jess Myers, Twin Cities, 2 May 2026

Ed Cooley brought in a strong quartet of transfers to Georgetown in Kansas’ Elmarko Jackson, Kentucky’s Jaland Lowe and FAU’s Josiah Parker, as well as center Chol Machot from the College of Charleston. —Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 2 May 2026

Blade and Pérez were both longtime members of the late saxophone legend Wayne Shorter’s quartet. —George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 May 2026

The brainchild of architect and naval designer Stefano Pastrovich, the quartet bucks marine conventions. —Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 1 May 2026

Word History

Etymology

Italian quartetto, from quarto fourth, from Latin quartus — more at quart

First Known Use

1773, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing quartet

• barbershop quartet
• string quartet

Rhymes for quartet

• abet
• asset
• baguette
• banquette
• barbette
• beget
• beset
• brevet
• briquette
• brunet
• brunette
• burette

Kids Definition

quartet

noun

quar·​tet

variants also quartette

kwȯr-ˈtet 

1

a

: a musical composition for four instruments or voices

b

: the performers of a quartet

2

: a group or set of four