melody
noun
musical sounds in agreeable succession or arrangement.
melody
1 American
[mel-uh-dee]
/ ˈmɛl ə di /
noun
-
melodies
plural
-
musical sounds in agreeable succession or arrangement.
-
Music.
-
the succession of single tones in musical compositions, as distinguished from harmony and rhythm.
-
the principal part in a harmonic composition; the air.
-
a rhythmical succession of single tones producing a distinct musical phrase or idea.
-
-
a poem suitable for singing.
-
intonation, as of a segment of connected speech.
Melody
2
American
[mel-uh-dee]
/ ˈmɛl ə di /
noun
melody
British
/ ˈmɛlədɪ /
noun
-
music
-
a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence; tune
-
the horizontally represented aspect of the structure of a piece of music Compare harmony
-
-
sounds that are pleasant because of tone or arrangement, esp words of poetry
Synonym Usage
See harmony.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of melody
1250–1300; Middle English melodie from Medieval Latin melōdia from Greek melōidía “(choral) singing,” equivalent to mel- ( see melic) + -ōid- ( see ode) + -ia -y 3
Explanation
In any musical composition, there is a dominant line that creates a tone pattern known as the piece's melody. There are specific rules for the musical composition of a melody, and most fall into regular patterns. The ancient Greek word melōidía was used to denote a tune for lyric poetry. It was derived from melos, which meant "song." In most songs, the melody follows a logical, mathematical pattern that creates a memorable line of notes. The word suggests a beautiful and pleasant sound, as was celebrated in the 1946 Irving Berlin lyrics, "A pretty girl is like a melody that haunts you night and day."
Vocabulary lists containing melody
First-Name Basis: Words That Are Also Names
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"The Weary Blues" by Langston Hughes
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Music - Introductory
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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.
See Examples For:
“Cien Años” played on, the elusive contours of its melody floating in the afternoon air.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
From next year's contest, the backing track may not "unduly assist" the singer or singers on stage, for example by including a pre-recorded voice singing the main melody to thicken or support the live performance.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
I do believe that in writing, there is a rhythm and melody within a sentence, just like there’s a narrative arc in a guitar solo.”
From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2026
Scurries unveiled the melody ahead of a critical board of supervisors vote that could pave the way for Rucci’s data center.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
In terms of the song itself, explore the meaning of the music itself apart from the lyrics—sing the melody of the song on a neutral syllable.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
Still, the home failed to sell, prompting the musician—who is married to fashion designer Melody Ehsani—to slash his ask once more in March 2024, this time to $6.8 million.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
"Everybody's lonely at some point, but some people are not OK admitting that," says Professor Melody Ding, an epidemiologist researching social connection and loneliness at the University of Sydney.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
He also formed the Casual Club Quintet, earning an honourable mention in Melody Maker, one of Britain's most influential music weeklies.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026
Soon I worked as a backstage assistant at the Cape Cod Melody Tent and danced in the chorus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
Instead, she responds thoughtfully: “You’ve always been able to say whatever came to your mind, Claire. All of you. But Melody has been forced to be silent. She probably has mountains of stuff to say.”
From "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M. Draper
But in the writing rooms, she dreamed up lyrics and melodies by the fistful.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
“Who Is The Sky?,” which Byrne made with the producer Kid Harpoon, contrasts deep lyrics about art, home and enlightenment with bright pop arrangements filled with crisp grooves and singalong melodies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
People still marvel at Miyazaki’s handcrafted backgrounds and his painstaking dedication to balancing its feather-light score with the melodies of flowing water or the gentle crunch of a child’s footfalls on grass and gravel.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
"The lyrics come much easier than the melodies," she says.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
The air was continuously alive with gay synthetic melodies.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
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.
