lilt
rhythmic swing or cadence.
a lilting song or tune.
to sing or play in a light, tripping, or rhythmic manner.
Origin of lilt
1Other words from lilt
- lilt·ing·ly, adverb
- lilt·ing·ness, noun
Words Nearby lilt
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
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.
Adele’s New Album ‘30’ Is a Masterpiece of Heartbreak and Honesty | Kevin Fallon | November 19, 2021 | The Daily BeastWhile Metal Gear needs no introduction, it’s been 18 years since Raziel snarled his vows of revenge with a Shakespearean lilt.
Video game franchises we want raised from the dead | Washington Post Staff | October 28, 2021 | Washington PostHe seems laid back, at first, with his professorial short beard, square glasses, and slight surfer lilt.
The quest to learn if our brain’s mutations affect mental health | Roxanne Khamsi | August 25, 2021 | MIT Technology ReviewThis Caribbeanized stew, unapologetic for its island lilt, uses fewer ingredients and comes together quickly, while still embodying a striking sense of place.
Trinidad-style aloo and channa infuses an Indian classic with Caribbean flavor | Brigid Washington | January 22, 2021 | Washington Post“I would expect that,” he says in a soft tenor voice, with the hint of a Southern lilt.
Better Than Fiction: The Rise, Fall, And Return of Webb Hubbell | Lloyd Grove | May 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Surely viewers forgive Jean Dujardin making acceptance speeches in his now-famous foreign lilt.
‘The Artist’: Golden Globe Winner Jean Dujardin on Its Surprise Ending | Tracy McNicoll | January 16, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTHe 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.
The Wave | Algernon BlackwoodAt the lilt in her voice Mollie, at her end of the wire, sat up and stared inquiringly into the black mouth of the telephone.
The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle | Laura Lee Hope"Better than that," answered Betty with the same lilt to her voice that the girls had heard over the telephone.
The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle | Laura Lee HopeNotice, however, that the beat is quite regular, and the lines lilt along as if there were no change.
English: Composition and Literature | W. F. (William Franklin) WebsterThese were the nights when "curtains" hung festooned in the heavens, alive, rippling, dancing to the lilt of lightning music.
The Home of the Blizzard | Douglas Mawson
British Dictionary definitions for lilt
/ (lɪlt) /
(in music) a jaunty rhythm
a buoyant motion
(of a melody) to have a lilt
to move in a buoyant manner
Origin of lilt
1Derived forms of lilt
- lilting, adjective
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
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