Meanings
- humorousUsed to indicate failure or disappointment.
And then you never hear from that person again. (Wah-wah...sad trombone.)
2019, Jeff Shore, Follow Up and Close the Sale: Make Easy (and Effective) Follow-Up Your Winning Habit, page 52 more examples
Last week the Wall Street Journal reported LP sales surged 49 percent last year and that factories are struggling to keep pace, but in the end, vinyl sales represent only 2 percent of U.S. music sales (*sad trombone*).
2014, Tim McMahan, “All About Survival and Spotify”, in The Reader, 25 December - 31 December 2014, page 11Any time a player's token lands on the top of a chute, the token must "slide" down to the final square where that chute is pictured (sad trombone).
2019 January 31, “Chutes and Ladders: Legislative Bill Edition”, in City Weekly, page 10
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
From a plaintive trombone (or sometimes trumpet) sting played during game shows to indicate a player losing.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
sad trombone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sad%20trombone
“sad trombone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sad%20trombone. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sad trombone,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sad%20trombone.
Source: sad trombone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.