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June 01, 2005

gamut (GAM-uht) noun

The complete range of something.
[From Medieval Latin, contraction of gamma ut, from gamma (third letter of the Greek alphabet), used to represent the lowest tone + ut, from the names of the notes ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si (ut and si later changed to do and ti). Gamma + ut contracted to gamut and the meaning expanded to denote all notes. The names ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si are derived from the initial syllables of a Latin hymn.]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=gamut


"'Our biggest problem is basic infrastructure strain, and that covers the gamut - electricity, water, telephone service - you name it, we have continuous basic problems with all of them,' [Alain Tiphaine] said."
Luis Ramos; Caribbean Business; Puerto Rico Herald; Jul 8, 2004.

This week's theme: words from music.

PronunciationRealAudio

Permalink:
http://wordsmith.org/words/gamut.html

Posted by Keya at June 1, 2005 06:56 PM
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