gamut

UK: /ˈgæmət/ US: /ˈgæmət/ ,(gam′ət)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

gam•ut /ˈgæmət/   n. [countable* usually singular: the + ~ + of]

1. an entire range:
   the gamut of emotions, from grief to joy.
2. Music and Dance the whole series of recognized musical notes.

Idioms

3. run the gamut, to extend across an entire range:
   His emotions ran the gamut, from fear to joy.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

gam•ut  (gam′ət), n. 

1. the entire scale or range:
   the gamut of dramatic emotion from grief to joy.
2. Music and Dance
   • the whole series of recognized musical notes.
   • the major scale.

• Medieval Latin; contraction of gamma ut, equivalent. to gamma, used to represent the first or lowest tone (German) in the medieval scale + ut (later do); the notes of the scale (ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si) being named from a Latin hymn to St. John the Baptist:
  Ut
  queant laxis re sonare fibris. Mi ra gestorum fa muli tuorum, Sol ve polluti la bii reatum, south, southern ancte I ohannes
• late Middle English 1425–75

Synonyms

• 1. sweep, breadth, scope, reach, extent, field.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

gamut / ˈɡæmət/ noun

1. entire range or scale, as of emotions
2. a scale, esp (in medieval theory) one starting on the G on the bottom line of the bass staff
3. the whole range of notes
4. the range of chromaticities that can be obtained by mixing three colours

Etymology: 15th Century: from Medieval Latin, changed from gamma ut, from gamma, the lowest note of the hexachord as established by Guido d'Arezzo + ut (now, doh), the first of the notes of the scale ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, derived from a Latin hymn to St John: Ut queant laxis resonare fibris, Mira gestorum famuli tuorum, Solve polluti labi reatum, Sancte Iohannes