BASS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bass mean? 

• BASS (noun)
  The noun BASS has 8 senses:

1. the lowest part of the musical range

2. the lowest part in polyphonic music

3. an adult male singer with the lowest voice

4. the lean flesh of a saltwater fish of the family Serranidae

5. any of various North American freshwater fish with lean flesh (especially of the genus Micropterus)

6. the lowest adult male singing voice

7. the member with the lowest range of a family of musical instruments

8. nontechnical name for any of numerous edible marine and freshwater spiny-finned fishes

  Familiarity information: BASS used as a noun is common.

• BASS (adjective)
  The adjective BASS has 1 sense:

1. having or denoting a low vocal or instrumental range

  Familiarity information: BASS used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BASS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The lowest part of the musical range

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("bass" is a kind of...):

pitch (the property of sound that varies with variation in the frequency of vibration)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The lowest part in polyphonic music

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

bass; bass part

Hypernyms ("bass" is a kind of...):

part; voice (the melody carried by a particular voice or instrument in polyphonic music)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bass"):

ground bass (a short melody in the bass that is constantly repeated)

basso continuo; continuo; figured bass; thorough bass (a bass part written out in full and accompanied by numbers to indicate the chords to be played)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An adult male singer with the lowest voice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

bass; basso

Hypernyms ("bass" is a kind of...):

singer; vocaliser; vocalist; vocalizer (a person who sings)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The lean flesh of a saltwater fish of the family Serranidae

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

bass; sea bass

Hypernyms ("bass" is a kind of...):

saltwater fish (flesh of fish from the sea used as food)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bass"):

striped bass; striper (caught along the Atlantic coast of the United States)

Holonyms ("bass" is a part of...):

sea bass (any of various food and sport fishes of the Atlantic coast of the United States having an elongated body and long spiny dorsal fin)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Any of various North American freshwater fish with lean flesh (especially of the genus Micropterus)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

bass; freshwater bass

Hypernyms ("bass" is a kind of...):

freshwater fish (flesh of fish from fresh water used as food)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bass"):

largemouth bass (flesh of largemouth bass)

smallmouth bass (flesh of smallmouth bass)

Holonyms ("bass" is a part of...):

freshwater bass (North American food and game fish)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The lowest adult male singing voice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

bass; bass voice; basso

Hypernyms ("bass" is a kind of...):

singing voice (the musical quality of the voice while singing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bass"):

basso profundo (a very deep bass voice)

Sense 7

Meaning:

The member with the lowest range of a family of musical instruments

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("bass" is a kind of...):

instrument; musical instrument (any of various devices or contrivances that can be used to produce musical tones or sounds)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bass"):

bass fiddle; bass viol; bull fiddle; contrabass; double bass; string bass (largest and lowest member of the violin family)

bass guitar (the guitar with six strings that has the lowest pitch)

bass horn; sousaphone; tuba (the lowest brass wind instrument)

bombard; bombardon (a large shawm; the bass member of the shawm family)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Nontechnical name for any of numerous edible marine and freshwater spiny-finned fishes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("bass" is a kind of...):

percoid; percoid fish; percoidean (any of numerous spiny-finned fishes of the order Perciformes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bass"):

freshwater bass (North American food and game fish)

• BASS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having or denoting a low vocal or instrumental range

Synonyms:

bass; deep

Context example:

a bass clarinet

Similar:

low; low-pitched (used of sounds and voices; low in pitch or frequency)

 Context examples 

For instance, a certain atomic gas, which fills much of the space between the stars, is represented by the upright bass.

(Does Our Galaxy Sound Like Funky Blues Music?, George Putic/VOA)

Oh! he has a fine bass voice, and an excellent taste for music.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He heard the shrill voices of the women, the gruff basses of the men, and the snarling of the dogs.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

They found Mary, as usual, deep in the study of thorough-bass and human nature; and had some extracts to admire, and some new observations of threadbare morality to listen to.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Barramundi or Asian sea bass, an important commercial fish, are born at sea and migrate as juveniles and adults to fresh, protected areas.

(Fish larvae lose their way to safety in acidified oceans, SciDev.Net)

It was called, as I remember, “The Briton Conquers but to Save,” and he rolled it out in a very fair bass voice, the others joining in the chorus, and clapping vigorously when he finished.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It increased my sufferings greatly to see the pats she gave him for punishment on the bridge of his blunt nose, while he winked his eyes, and licked her hand, and still growled within himself like a little double-bass.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Lifting his hand to his head, the absent-minded Professor gravely felt and removed the little cocked hat, looked at it a minute, and then threw back his head and laughed like a merry bass viol.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Oh, nothing, nothing, said he, and strolled back to where the voices of the contending men of science rose in a prolonged duet, the high, strident note of Summerlee rising and falling to the sonorous bass of Challenger.

(The Lost World, 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)