Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

musical chairs

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.90 in modern English

Syllables: mu-si-cal chairs
IPA

22

Scrabble Score

13

Letters

3

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A children's game in which players circle a group of chairs. There is one chair fewer than the number of players. When someone who is not watching stops playing music, everybody sits down, and the player left without a chair is eliminated.

Uncountable

noun

Any activity which results in repeated, pointless shuffling of people or objects.

Uncountable

Example Sentences

"They were married though they needn't have married, and though both had sworn they never would be. It is hard to explain—in that game of musical chairs—why they should have stopped, finally, at each other."
"The job market last year and earlier in 2022 was like musical chairs, offering record opportunities for hopping from seat to seat. Now many feel that the music is about to stop."
"O’Donnell sounded world-weary as he recollected trying to sustain strategies for big issues through games of ministerial musical chairs."

Usage

Uncountable

Frequently Paired Words

merry-go-round treadmill

Synonyms

trip to Jerusalem going to jerusalem

Questions

What does musical chairs mean?: A children's game in which players circle a group of chairs. There is one chair fewer than the number of players. When someone who is not watching stops playing music, everybody sits down, and the player left without a chair is eliminated.

How to pronounce musical chairs

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “musical chairs”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “musical chairs”.
Repeat and practice — Say “musical chairs” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.