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• melos
  melos

  noun

  the succession of musical tones constituting a melody.
• Melos
  Melos

  noun

  a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the SW Aegean: statue, Venus de Milo, found here 1820. 51 sq. mi. (132 sq. km).

melos

¹ American  

[mel-os, -ohs, mee-los, -lohs] / ˈmɛl ɒs, -oʊs, ˈmi lɒs, -loʊs /

noun

1. the succession of musical tones constituting a melody.

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Melos ² American  

[mee-los, -lohs, mel-os, -ohs, mee-laws] / ˈmi lɒs, -loʊs, ˈmɛl ɒs, -oʊs, ˈmi lɔs /

Also Milos.

noun

1. a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the SW Aegean: statue, Venus de Milo, found here 1820. 51 sq. mi. (132 sq. km).

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Melos British  

/ ˈmiːlɒs /

noun

1. Modern Greek name: Mílos. an island in the SW Aegean Sea, in the Cyclades: of volcanic origin, with hot springs; centre of early Aegean civilization, where the Venus de Milo was found. Pop: 4771 (2001). Area: 132 sq km (51 sq miles)

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Other Word Forms

• Melian
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of melos

First recorded in 1730–40, melos is from the Greek word mélos song, tune

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

melos Melos

“After all,” she notes, “melodrama comes from melos, which means ‘music,’ ‘honey’; a drama queen is, nonetheless, a queen.”

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 31, 2019

Charles A. Taylor, 78, blood-&-thunder dramatist of the '90s; in Glendale, Calif. Five of his melos were running at once on Broadway in 1892.

From Time Magazine Archive

This word melos is also applied to the peculiar style of vocal solo found in Wagner's music dramas.

From Music Notation and Terminology by Karl Wilson Gehrkens

The music is ultra-Wagnerian, the finale genuine Strauss, with its swelling melos, its almost superhuman forcing of the emotional line to the ecstatic point.

From Ivory Apes and Peacocks by James Huneker

It characterizes the Christian chant or canticle, as a higher thing than a Greek ode, melos, or hymnos, or than a Latin carmen.

From On the Old Road, Vol. 2 (of 2) A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature by John Ruskin

Back in 416 B.C., the refusal to submit to Athens, the superpower of antiquity, ended badly for the islanders of Melos.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026

During the bloody decades-long war between Athens and Sparta, the island of Melos tried to maintain neutrality.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2015

Months later, the Melos lifted the first construction crane in the city's post-housing bubble era, betting they could find buyers for condos in a new 17-story tower.

From Reuters ● Mar. 10, 2013

In his history of the Peloponnesian War, a clash between the city-states Athens and Sparta, Thucydides recounted a negotiation between Athenians and leaders of Melos, an island kingdom striving to remain neutral.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 12, 2012

It would not only be a convenience, but a joy and a delight, to have over the Venus of Melos.

From Remarks on the practice and policy of lending Bodleian printed books and manuscripts by Henry W. Chandler