melismatic

American  

[mel-iz-mat-ik] / ˌmɛl ɪzˈmæt ɪk /

adjective

1. Music. in a musical style that allows several notes to be sung to one syllable of text.

   The work’s dotted rhythms, soaring melismatic passages, suspensions, and changes of time signature make it the most widely sung of Purcell's choral compositions.

   The title song is a melismatic rock anthem that's a Top Forty–quality enduring earworm.

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Etymology

Origin of melismatic

First recorded in 1815–25; from Greek mélismat-, stem of mélisma, “song, tune” ( see melisma ( def. )) + -ic ( def. )

Example Sentences

The lord of vibrato’s melismatic flourishes flickered like comet trails across an anthemic “Jeremy,” one of the darkest hits in modern rock history, which blew up in a joyful supernova on Thursday.

From Seattle Times • May 31, 2024

A lot will ride on how Blanca's melismatic vocal performance can be recreated live.

From BBC • Apr. 5, 2023

Carey’s calisthenic vocals, combining gospel-style melismatic runs and subtly funky syncopations, are unmistakably ’90s, redolent of hip-hop-influenced R&B that Carey herself helped pioneer a generation ago.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 14, 2020

The vocal is growling and shrieking, barely containable, full of melismatic runs and the trademark falsetto “woos” that basically invented the Beatles.

From Slate • May 9, 2020

Without having sung a note in the early evening, she must awake in the third act, about ten-thirty or eleven, to begin almost immediately the melismatic duet which concludes the music drama.

From Interpreters by Van Vechten, Carl