| English Dictionary |
TREBLE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does treble mean?
• TREBLE (noun)
The noun TREBLE has 1 sense:
1. the pitch range of the highest female voice
Familiarity information: TREBLE used as a noun is very rare.
• TREBLE (adjective)
The adjective TREBLE has 4 senses:
1. having or denoting a high range
2. three times as great or many
3. having three units or components or elements
4. having more than one decidedly dissimilar aspects or qualities
Familiarity information: TREBLE used as an adjective is uncommon.
• TREBLE (verb)
The verb TREBLE has 2 senses:
1. sing treble
2. increase threefold
Familiarity information: TREBLE used as a verb is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
The pitch range of the highest female voice
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Synonyms:
soprano; treble
Hypernyms ("treble" is a kind of...):
pitch (the property of sound that varies with variation in the frequency of vibration)
Derivation:
treble (sing treble)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Having or denoting a high range
Synonyms:
soprano; treble
Context example:
the treble clef
Similar:
high; high-pitched (used of sounds and voices; high in pitch or frequency)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Three times as great or many
Synonyms:
three-fold; threefold; treble; triple
Context example:
a threefold increase
Similar:
multiple (having or involving or consisting of more than one part or entity or individual)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Having three units or components or elements
Synonyms:
ternary; treble; triple; triplex
Context example:
triplex windows
Similar:
multiple (having or involving or consisting of more than one part or entity or individual)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Having more than one decidedly dissimilar aspects or qualities
Synonyms:
double; dual; three-fold; threefold; treble; two-fold; twofold
Context example:
every episode has its double and treble meaning
Similar:
multiple (having or involving or consisting of more than one part or entity or individual)
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it trebles Past simple: trebled
Past participle: trebled
-ing form: trebling
Sense 1
Meaning:
Sing treble
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Hypernyms (to "treble" is one way to...):
sing (produce tones with the voice)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Derivation:
treble (the pitch range of the highest female voice)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Increase threefold
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
treble; triple
Context example:
Triple your income!
Hypernyms (to "treble" is one way to...):
manifold; multiply (combine or increase by multiplication)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Context examples
Reserve on such a point would be not only useless, but draw down treble misery on us all.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Vy, from vot I see, he cried, in his high, broken treble, there’s some on you that ain’t fit to flick a fly from a joint o’ meat.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I trebled the cable to make it stronger, and for the same reason I twisted three of the iron bars together, bending the extremities into a hook.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
From far off he could hear a childish treble singing: "Waltz me around again, Willie, around, around, around."
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
As I glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the envelope.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Once, very early in my career, it had totally failed me; since then I had been obliged on more than one occasion to double, and once, with infinite risk of death, to treble the amount; and these rare uncertainties had cast hitherto the sole shadow on my contentment.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
It was her own choice to give the time of their absence to Highbury; to spend, perhaps, her last months of perfect liberty with those kind relations to whom she was so very dear: and the Campbells, whatever might be their motive or motives, whether single, or double, or treble, gave the arrangement their ready sanction, and said, that they depended more on a few months spent in her native air, for the recovery of her health, than on any thing else.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
The expectations of his friend Morland, therefore, from the first overrated, had ever since his introduction to Isabella been gradually increasing; and by merely adding twice as much for the grandeur of the moment, by doubling what he chose to think the amount of Mr. Morland's preferment, trebling his private fortune, bestowing a rich aunt, and sinking half the children, he was able to represent the whole family to the general in a most respectable light.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
He sank his face onto his arms and began to sob in a high treble key.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I ran sideling upon it, that way and this, as fast as I could, banging the proper keys with my two sticks, and made a shift to play a jig, to the great satisfaction of both their majesties; but it was the most violent exercise I ever underwent; and yet I could not strike above sixteen keys, nor consequently play the bass and treble together, as other artists do; which was a great disadvantage to my performance.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
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