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broken chord

American  

noun

Music.
  1. arpeggio.


broken chord British  

noun

  1. music a chord played as an arpeggio

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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:

Then it grows small again, a lonely keyboard wandering a broken chord as Bryant’s voiceover admits that his body can only play for so long.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 29, 2025

“Giuseppe,” the mother said again, in a soft, broken chord of muted anguish.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Such tongues ring falser than a broken chord Whose jar distunes the music.

From Locrine: a tragedy by Swinburne, Algernon Charles

Would all be changed and chill, and the old music of their past be silence, or at best the jangle of a broken chord?

From When Ghost Meets Ghost by De Morgan, William Frend

As he listened, he lost his place; the music ended with a broken chord, and the musician sat silent in the dark.

From Little Women or Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Alcott, Louisa May

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