adjective
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of or relating to melody
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of or relating to a part in a piece of music
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tuneful or melodious
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of melodic
1815–25; < Late Latin melōdicus < Greek melōidikós. See melody, -ic
Explanation
Something that's tuneful or pretty to listen to is melodic. If your French teacher has a friendly smile and a melodic voice, you could probably sit and listen to her talk for hours. Anything sweet sounding — a bird's trill, a poet's voice, or the tune you sing in the shower — is melodic. A more technical meaning of the word is "containing melody," the definition a professional musician might use. Melody is a quality of music defined as "tunefulness" or "a satisfying series of notes." Music teachers play melodic patterns for their students to duplicate, and composers sometimes combine melodic phrases to form a symphony. The Greek root of melodic is melos, or "song."
Vocabulary lists containing melodic
Music - Middle School
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Music - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Scholfield, who plans to become a trainer, won the Grade One Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown in 2013 aboard Melodic Rendezvous, one of eight victories on the horse.
From BBC • Apr. 6, 2025
Melodic intonation therapy, for instance, is a promising approach to train people with aphasia to sing what they want to say, using their intact "musical mechanisms" to bypass damaged speech mechanisms.
From Science Daily • May 28, 2024
Keem enlisted Lamar as his running mate for three of the 16 tracks on his debut studio album, “The Melodic Blue.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 10, 2022
American Idol > Melodic Crania: This week, contestants sing songs that are sure to get stuck in your head.
From Washington Post • Nov. 11, 2021
Melodic rhythm refers to any rhythmic patterns in a piece.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
