Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

They’re each playing tiny instruments — one a half-open sardine can, another a stringed matchbook.

From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2026

Meanwhile, Black Americans enslaved on plantations were using homemade instruments such as stringed gourds to produce music with complex rhythms influenced by African traditions, which would later develop into blues and jazz.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 15, 2026

Santoor is a trapezoid-shaped stringed musical instrument, similar to a dulcimer, which is played with mallets.

From BBC • Jul. 26, 2025

Two inmates were granted leave to see the concert featuring 14 prison-made stringed instruments playing a program that included works by Bach and Vivaldi.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 13, 2024

To salvage what she could of her standing as a teacher, Aunt Anne used to tell the audience before we went on stage that we had only recently shifted from the piano to stringed instruments.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey