harmonics

[hahr-mon-iks]

noun

Music.

1. (used with a singular verb),  the science of musical sounds.

2. (used with a plural verb),  the partials or overtones of a fundamental tone.

3. (used with a plural verb),  the flageoletlike tones of a string, as a violin string, made to vibrate so as to bring out an overtone.

harmonics

/ hɑːˈmɒnɪks /

noun

1. (functioning as singular) the science of musical sounds and their acoustic properties

2. (functioning as plural) the overtones of a fundamental note, as produced by lightly touching the string of a stringed instrument at one of its node points while playing See harmonic

Word History and Origins

Origin of harmonics¹

First recorded in 1700–10; harmonic, -ics

Example Sentences

Graphene has long been a promising candidate for HHG research, but its perfect symmetry restricts it to producing only odd harmonics -- frequencies that are odd multiples of the original light source.

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I like odd chord changes; when I was singing with the Jazz Passengers, that was sort of like going to college for me, they used all kinds of time signatures and harmonics and things.

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“There’s something that happens when you lock in to somebody and all the harmonics ping,” says Sting backup singer Jo Lawry.

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She folded trills, stops and sweet harmonics into unbroken lines, and when she harmonized with herself, she utilized the plushness and patience familiar from her Bach recordings.

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This excitation triggers the generation of harmonic electronic states that give rise to single photons -- similar to how musical harmonics produce notes across multiple octaves.

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Related Words

• arrangement 
• chord 
• composition 
• melody 
• tune 
• unity