unison

See also: UNISON

English

Etymology

From Middle English unisoun, from Middle French unisson, from Medieval Latin ūnisonus (“having the same sound”), from ūni- +‎ sonus (“sound”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjunɪsən/, /ˈjunɪzən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

unison (usually uncountable, plural unisons)

1. (music, acoustics) Identical pitch between two notes or sounds; the simultaneous playing of notes of identical pitch (or separated by one or more octaves). [from 15th c.]

   The unison has a pitch ratio of 1:1.

   • 2007 July 16, James R. Oestreich, “With Levine as Tour Guide, a Journey Through Mahler’s Third Symphony”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     The young principal timpanist, Timothy Genis, was superb throughout, though his sidekick timpanist sometimes lagged in the final unisons.

2. (music, acoustics) A sound or note having the same pitch as another, especially when used as the base note for an interval; a unison string. [from 15th c.]
   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

     I could not behold him without emotion; when he accosted me, his well-known voice made my heart vibrate, like a musical chord, when its unison is struck.

3. The state of being in harmony or agreement; harmonious agreement or togetherness, synchronisation. [from 17th c.]

   Everyone moved in unison, but the sudden change in weight distribution capsized the boat.

4. (by extension) Two or more voices speaking or singing the same words together.

Abbreviations

• (in music): P1

Derived terms

Derived terms

• in unison
• augmented unison
• perfect unison
• unisonal
• unisonance
• unisonant
• unisonous

Translations

the state of being together, in harmony, at the same time

• Bulgarian: съгласие (bg) n (sǎglasie), хармония (bg) f (harmonija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 一致 (zh) (yīzhì), 和谐 (zh) (héxié), 和諧／和谐 (zh) (héxié)

• German: Einklang (de) m, Gleichklang m, Eintracht (de) f
• Irish: comhréir f
• Polish: unisono (pl) n
• Russian: согла́сие (ru) n (soglásije)

music: the simultaneous playing of an identical note more than once

• Afrikaans: unisoon
• Bulgarian: съзвучие (bg) n (sǎzvučie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 同音 (zh) (tóngyīn), 齐唱 (zh) (qíchàng), 齊唱／齐唱 (zh) (qíchàng), 齐奏 (zh) (qízòu), 齊奏／齐奏 (zh) (qízòu)

• French: unisson (fr) m
• German: Unisono n, Einklang (de) m
• Irish: comh-airde f, aoncheol m, aontacht f
• Italian: unisono (it) m
• Polish: unisono (pl) n
• Romanian: primă (ro) f, unison (ro) n
• Russian: унисо́н (ru) m (unisón)
• Serbo-Croatian: prima (sh) f
• Swedish: samråd (sv) c

Further reading

• unison on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Unions, nonius, unions

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian унисон (unison).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: u‧ni‧son

Noun

unison

1. unison

Declension

Declension of unison

	singular	plural
nominative	unison	unisonlar
genitive	unisonnıñ	unisonlarnıñ
dative	unisonğa	unisonlarğa
accusative	unisonnı	unisonlarnı
locative	unisonda	unisonlarda
ablative	unisondan	unisonlardan

References

• “unison”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French unisson, from Latin unisonus.

Noun

unison n (uncountable)

1. unison

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	unison	unisonul
genitive-dative	unison	unisonului
vocative	unisonule

Swedish

20.000 sjöngo unisont (1937), the sing-along at Skansen

Adjective

unison (not comparable)

1. in unison (of song)

   unison sång

   sing-along

Declension

Inflection of unison

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	unison	—	—
neuter singular	unisont	—	—
plural	unisona	—	—
masculine plural2	unisone	—	—
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	unisone	—	—
all	unisona	—	—

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Anagrams

• unions