monodic

[muh-nod-ik]

adjective

Music.

1. of or relating to monody.

Other Word Forms

• monodically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of monodic¹

From the Greek word monōidikós, dating back to 1810–20. See monody, -ic

Example Sentences

In the Renaissance, modern music was understood to be quite different from ancient music because it was polyphonic rather than monodic—Galileo’s father, Vincenzo, wrote a Dialogue on Ancient and Modern Music.

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Chinese music has always been monodic, and they use a great variety of melodic shadings composed of intervals of small fractions of a step.

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They seem richer in themes than the others, partly because the themes are bigger, partly because they are more perfectly adapted to monodic, harmonic treatment, and out of every bar something is made.

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Polyphonic music of every sort had now to go for a while; monodic music was coming in.

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