Other forms: ensembles
An ensemble is a group of performers who work as one thing rather than as a row of soloists. Eight musicians sit in a half circle, nobody stands out in front, and what arrives is a single sound.
The word carries that idea outward. An ensemble cast is a film or a play with no star at the top of the poster, where the whole company shares the weight; ensemble playing is what an orchestra is praised for when the parts lock together. In fashion an ensemble is an outfit, a set of clothes chosen to be worn as one. And ensemble is a French word English never anglicised, so say it on-SOM-bl, first syllable through the nose, last one almost swallowed. The commonest written slip is ensamble, with an a.
1nounensembleA group of musicians, actors or dancers who perform together as one.~78%
“She plays cello in a small ensemble.”
2noundanceA cast or company acting as a whole, with no single star.~19%
“The film is an ensemble piece with six leading parts.”
3nounsetA set of clothes chosen to be worn together.~3%
“She wore a grey ensemble with a matching hat.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 148 sentences found in the wild and placed 119 of them on a sense (29 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
en-SEMBLE → the SEMBLE you can see in as-SEMBLE
Eight players walk on stage and assemble in a half circle, each holding a big white card with one letter on it: A-S-S-E-M-B-L-E. Then the two at the front turn their cards round. Nobody else moves, the last six letters stay exactly where they were, and the row now reads ENSEMBLE.
hooks ontoassemble
French
ensemble
English, today
ensemble
Borrowed from French ensemble.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA