stringed instrument

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An instrument, such as a violin, guitar, harp, or dulcimer, in which sound is produced by causing taut strings to vibrate, as by plucking, striking, or bowing.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun music Any of very many musical instruments in which taut strings are plucked, bowed or struck in order to produce a sound

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a musical instrument in which taut strings provide the source of sound