rhapsody
Americannoun
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rhapsodies
plural
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Music. an instrumental composition irregular in form and suggestive of improvisation.
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an ecstatic expression of feeling or enthusiasm.
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an epic poem, or a part of such a poem, as a book of the Iliad, suitable for recitation at one time.
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a similar piece of modern literature.
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an unusually intense or irregular poem or piece of prose.
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Archaic. a miscellaneous collection; jumble.
noun
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music a composition free in structure and highly emotional in character
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an expression of ecstatic enthusiasm
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(in ancient Greece) an epic poem or part of an epic recited by a rhapsodist
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a literary work composed in an intense or exalted style
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rapturous delight or ecstasy
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obsolete a medley
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of rhapsody
1535–45; < Latin rhapsōdia < Greek rhapsōidía recital of epic poetry, equivalent to rhapsōid ( ós ) rhapsodist + -ia -y 3
Explanation
A rhapsody is an impassioned speech or sentiment. Your rhapsody about the desserts at your city's new restaurant has all of your friends drooling and dying to try them. A rhapsody is also part of an epic poem that is suitable for reciting. The word comes from the Greek word rhapsodios, which means a person who recites epic poems, and whose root is rhaptein, meaning to stitch. A rhapsody is also a musical piece noted for its improvisational nature and irregular form. Perhaps the most famous of this type of music is George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," composed in 1924.
Vocabulary lists containing rhapsody
Poetry
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The Night Circus
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"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 3
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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.
See Examples For:
Another inspires a short rhapsody detailing the six-figure worth of a Richard Mille Felipe Massa automatic chronograph with a rose gold skeleton and a flyback function.
From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2025
The concerts over the weekend included, mercifully one at a time, Concerto No. 1 on Thursday, the rhapsody on Friday and the super popular Concerto No. 2 on Saturday and Sunday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 15, 2023
This music isn’t a treatise; it is a rhapsody in the best sense, in that each musical vignette is full of heart and intimate understanding of the joys and pains of Black humanity.
From New York Times ● Aug. 3, 2022
As a TV star, Yair Lapid's weekly commentary was entitled "Being Israeli" - a rhapsody about the middle-class, politically centrist ranks that he saw holding together a fractious country, with him as their tribune.
From Reuters ● Jun. 21, 2022
The House had then decided never again to allow itself to become inflamed by the mere rant and rhapsody of a meddling fanatic” and had argued “that the subject would never be stirred again.”
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
She chopped her own firewood, took pleasure in renovating the farmhouse, and posted frequent rhapsodies to the area on Instagram, with images of wild lilies, lighthouses and the Oldest Shoe Store in America.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2022
Long before Holmes came along, business reporters had written rhapsodies to the likes of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 16, 2021
But rather than offer misty-eyed rhapsodies to the good old days, Farrell seems most enlivened with ideas about how to fight for a better future.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 7, 2020
Read his latest for the avian rhapsodies and nuanced climate politics, but also because there’s more to any good argument than can easily be summarized on social media.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 12, 2018
So far, it ran to minute descriptions of the lush furnishings of Sherry’s house, rhapsodies over Sherry’s exquisite clothes, and course-by-course accounts of fabulous meals consumed by the heroine.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
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.
