melody
1 Americannoun
plural
melodies-
musical sounds in agreeable succession or arrangement.
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Music.
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the succession of single tones in musical compositions, as distinguished from harmony and rhythm.
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the principal part in a harmonic composition; the air.
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a rhythmical succession of single tones producing a distinct musical phrase or idea.
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a poem suitable for singing.
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intonation, as of a segment of connected speech.
noun
noun
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music
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a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence; tune
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the horizontally represented aspect of the structure of a piece of music Compare harmony
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sounds that are pleasant because of tone or arrangement, esp words of poetry
Related Words
See harmony.
Other Word Forms
- melodyless adjective
- undermelody noun
Etymology
Origin of melody
1250–1300; Middle English melodie from Medieval Latin melōdia from Greek melōidía “(choral) singing,” equivalent to mel- ( melic ) + -ōid- ( ode ) + -ia -y 3
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.
The melody in the chorus shows a glimmer of hook-writing ability.
From Salon
Swathed in lyrics and melody instead of chaptered prose, I got it: Here were two people who embodied the idea behind can’t live with or without you.
From Los Angeles Times
The country's main television channel has this week broadcast songs with sombre melodies and published a photo of Rakhmon on a black background with the quote, "the man of the Sun Dynasty."
From Barron's
It started with the concept album “A Curious Feeling,” its obsessive autumnal gloom and ornate melodies made even more memorable by the monochrome opacity of the production.
From Los Angeles Times
Mr. Polito thereby gives us a poet who isn’t “just a blazing, mercurial, ingenious reviser of his own words and melodies but also a conscious, sly, artist.”
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.
