audition

audition — noun

1. a short piece of acting, singing, dancing, or playing that someone does so other

1.nounC1
Definition

a short piece of acting, singing, dancing, or playing that someone does so others can decide if they fit a role, show, or group

Example

Leah sang two jazz songs at her audition for the hotel band.

audition for + group

After the dance audition, twenty girls waited quietly in the hall.

collocation: dance audition

Common collocations
  • dance audition
  • open audition
  • final audition
  • audition for the role
  • miss an audition
Synonyms
  • tryout

    a common informal word, especially in sports and school activities

  • casting

    focuses on choosing actors rather than the performer's short test itself

  • screen test

    narrower and mainly used for film or television work

Grammar Patterns

an audition for something

go to an audition

hold auditions

Usage Note

Often followed by for when you name the part, show, band, or school place. In music, it can cover singing or playing as well as acting.

Common Mistakes

She went to audition of the school play.
She went to an audition for the school play.
the noun usually takes audition for + role or show.

audition — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

For sense 1, audition is the standard word for a short performance used to judge whether someone fits a role, show, band, or school place. Tryout is more informal and is very common in sports, clubs, and school teams, though people also use it for performers. Casting usually names the process of choosing actors, so it points more to the organizers' side than to one performer's short test. Screen test is narrower and belongs mainly to film or television, often when the camera result matters. A singer may go to an audition for a band, a basketball player has a tryout, and a film studio may invite an actor to a screen test.

audition ↗tryoutcastingscreen test

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • audition for a part
  • hold an audition

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Audition goes back to the Latin verb audire, meaning 'to hear'. Related forms passed through French into English and first had to do with hearing or listening. From the idea of hearing a person perform, English developed the modern sense of testing a singer, actor, dancer, or musician for a role or place.