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): /ˈjunɨsən/, /ˈjunɨzən/

• 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.]
   • 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.

   The unison has a pitch ratio of 1:1.

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, chapter 88, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume III, London: Harrison and Co., […], published 1781, →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 the same words together.

Abbreviations

• (in music): P1

Derived terms

Derived terms

• in 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), 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), 齊唱／齐唱 (zh) (qíchàng), 齐奏 (zh), 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
• Russian: унисо́н (ru) m (unisón)
• Swedish: samråd (sv) c

Further reading

• unison on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Unions, nonius, unions

Romanian

Etymology

From French unisson, from Latin unisonus.

Noun

unison n (uncountable)

1. unison

Declension

declension of unison (singular only)

	singular
n gender	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) unison	unisonul
genitive/dative	(unui) 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	Superlative2
Common singular	unison	—	—
Neuter singular	unisont	—	—
Plural	unisona	—	—
Masculine plural3	unisone	—	—
Definite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Masculine singular1	unisone	—	—
All	unisona	—	—
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine. 2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. 3) Dated or archaic

Anagrams

• unions