1. a singing voice between baritone and alto or countertenor, the highest of the ordinary adult male range.
▪ a singer with a tenor voice.
▪ a part written for a tenor voice.
▪ an instrument, especially a saxophone, trombone, tuba, or viol, of the lowest pitch but one in its family: "a tenor sax"
▪ the largest and deepest bell of a ring or set.
Word Originlate Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin, based on tenere ‘to hold’; so named because the tenor part was allotted (and therefore ‘held’) the melody.
