🎓 College LevelThis shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
lilt [ lilt ] SHOW IPA
/ lɪlt / PHONETIC RESPELLING
🎓 College LevelThis shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
noun
rhythmic swing or cadence.
a lilting song or tune.
verb (used with or without object)
to sing or play in a light, tripping, or rhythmic manner.
QUIZ
WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?
Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!
Question 1 of 7
Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.
Origin of lilt First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English verb lilte, lulte “to sound an alarm; lift up (one's voice)”; perhaps akin to Dutch, Low German lul “pipe,” lullen “to lull,” Norwegian lilla “to sing,” of imitative origin
OTHER WORDS FROM lilt lilt·ing·ly, adverb lilt·ing·ness, noun
Words nearby lilt Lilliputian ,
Lillo ,
lilly-pilly ,
Lilo ,
Lilongwe ,
lilt ,
lily ,
Lilyan ,
lily family ,
lily iron ,
lily-livered
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use lilt in a sentence The ballad begins with the soft twinkle of piano keys and Adele’s voice at a quiet lilt —a spare arrangement that, over the course of six minutes, crescendos to a chills-inducing, booming triumph, emblematic of the transformation she makes herself.
While Metal Gear needs no introduction, it’s been 18 years since Raziel snarled his vows of revenge with a Shakespearean lilt .
He seems laid back, at first, with his professorial short beard, square glasses, and slight surfer lilt .
This Caribbeanized stew, unapologetic for its island lilt , uses fewer ingredients and comes together quickly, while still embodying a striking sense of place.
“I would expect that,” he says in a soft tenor voice, with the hint of a Southern lilt .
Surely viewers forgive Jean Dujardin making acceptance speeches in his now-famous foreign lilt .
He spoke in soft, considered tones, with an almost prayerful lilt .
As Morris shares his side of the story, his voice whispers across the phone line, a gentle Southern lilt kissing every syllable.
His voice carries some of the Bavarian lilt of Werner Herzog, and he looks slightly like Daniel Day-Lewis when he laughs.
It was a native melody, but it had the strange, monotonous lilt of Tony's old-Egyptian melody.
At the lilt in her voice Mollie, at her end of the wire, sat up and stared inquiringly into the black mouth of the telephone.
"Better than that," answered Betty with the same lilt to her voice that the girls had heard over the telephone.
Notice, however, that the beat is quite regular, and the lines lilt along as if there were no change.
These were the nights when "curtains" hung festooned in the heavens, alive, rippling, dancing to the lilt of lightning music.
SEE MORE EXAMPLES SEE FEWER EXAMPLES
British Dictionary definitions for lilt
noun
(in music) a jaunty rhythm
a buoyant motion
verb (intr)
(of a melody) to have a lilt
to move in a buoyant manner
Derived forms of lilt lilting , adjective Word Origin for lilt C14 lulten, origin obscure
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