adjective
-
having a tune that is pleasant to the ear
-
of or relating to melody; melodic
Other Word Forms
- melodiously adverb
- melodiousness noun
- nonmelodious adjective
- nonmelodiously adverb
- nonmelodiousness noun
- overmelodious adjective
- overmelodiously adverb
- overmelodiousness noun
- unmelodious adjective
- unmelodiously adverb
- unmelodiousness noun
Etymology
Origin of melodious
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English word from Medieval Latin word melōdiōsus. See melody, -ous
Explanation
Use the adjective melodious to describe something that sounds like music, like a babbling brook or a little boy's soft humming. Anything that makes a pleasant, tuneful sound can be called melodious, which makes sense when you spot the word melody in melodious. Both have a root in common, the Greek word meloidia, which means "singing, or a tune for lyric poetry." It, in turn, comes from melos, or "song."
Vocabulary lists containing melodious
Excerpt from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
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List 8
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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.
This 1898 divertissement by Marius Petipa, to the melodious music of Alexander Glazunov, is accented with moves shaped by Hungarian folk dance and has long been a staple of various classical ballet companies.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026
Women wearing long wigs and ornate traditional dresses milled around a pebbled courtyard, stopping to snap photos under a pavilion, as the melodious strumming of the Chinese zither played in the background.
From Barron's • Nov. 14, 2025
Writing in the Guardian, Lisa Wright awarded it four stars, praising its "poignant moments", while The Telegraph's Neil McCormick gave it five stars, calling it a "glorious return to his bombastic, melodious 1970s pomp".
From BBC • Apr. 5, 2025
The chorus is just two notes sung over and over again, and not the two most melodious notes in the world.
From Salon • Nov. 24, 2024
And on he excavated, around the clock, babbling incoherently as he searched for his melodious bell that never for a moment stopped BONGING!
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
