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.

The singers intone the text quickly while sliding downward with their voices, or hold long, clear notes that blossom into brief melismas.

From New York Times • May 25, 2023

After filming in July, he went into the studio with Hadyn to work on the score, collecting trilling melismas from musical artists Moses Sumney, Diana Gordon and Nadiah Adu-Gyamfi.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 19, 2022

For LeRoy, this idea resonates with the concept of melismas, or a group of notes sung at one syllable that often express a feeling without words, that is also often used in gospel music.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 19, 2022

Singers and a string section gathered onstage as the song moved into a gospel-charged crescendo and H.E.R. let loose more expansive, ever more soulful melismas.

From New York Times • Feb. 11, 2019

She can belt and she can tease; she can aim a note as directly as a missile or turn its trajectory into an aerobatic spiral of leaping, quivering, scalloping melismas.

From New York Times • Jun. 13, 2018