Meaning & use
audition
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Meanings
nouncountable
A short trial performance by an actor, singer or musician to show they are good enough for a part or place.
Grammar: Countable: she has an audition on Monday.
Patterns
- an audition for something
- an audition with someone
Dana has an audition for the school musical on Friday.
The violinist spent weeks preparing for her orchestra audition.
Over two hundred people came to the open audition.
verbintransitive
To perform in front of judges to try to win a part or a place in a group.
Grammar: No object; usually followed by for: audition for a role.
Patterns
- audition for something
- audition with something
Hundreds of children auditioned for the lead role.
He auditioned with a short song from his favorite film.
I'm going to audition for the school choir next week.
verbtransitive
To listen to someone perform in order to decide whether they suit a part or a place in a group.
Grammar: Takes an object: the director auditioned ten actors.
Patterns
- audition someone for something
The director auditioned twenty dancers in one afternoon.
The band auditioned several drummers before choosing one.
They are auditioning singers for the new talent show.
Word forms
| plural | auditions |
|---|---|
| third person singular | auditions |
| past tense | auditioned |
| past participle | auditioned |
| -ing form | auditioning |
Common combinations
- hold an audition
- The theater will hold an audition next month.
- pass an audition
- She passed the audition and joined the youth orchestra.
- open audition
- The studio announced an open audition for dancers.
- audition for a role
- He decided to audition for a role in the play.
- audition tape
- She sent an audition tape to the casting director.
- nail an audition
- After weeks of practice, he nailed the audition.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tryout
- Tryout is common for sports teams and informal in general, while audition is used for performance and music.
- screen test
- A screen test is a filmed trial for a film actor, so it is narrower than audition.
- trial
- Trial is a general word for a test of ability and does not suggest a performance in front of judges.
- casting
- Casting refers to the process of choosing actors, whereas an audition is one candidate's turn to perform.
Word family
- auditionee noun
- a person who is taking part in an audition
- auditory adjective
- relating to hearing, from the same Latin root
- auditorium noun
- the part of a theater where the audience sits
Commonly confused: audition or addition? audition or edition?
audition vs addition
Addition means adding something, as in math; audition is a performance trial. The words sound alike in fast speech.
audition vs edition
An edition is a version of a published work, such as a book, and is unrelated to performing for judges.
Practice
Complete the sentence: 'Maria will ___ for the lead role in the school play on Thursday.'
Choose one answer.
Audition is a verb meaning to perform to try to win a role. Audit is a verb but means to check accounts, and auditorium and addition are nouns that do not fit after 'will'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “audition”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.