psalmody

[sah-muh-dee, sal-muh-]

noun

plural

psalmodies 

1. the act, practice, or art of setting psalms to music.

2. psalms or hymns collectively.

3. the act, practice, or art of singing psalms.

psalmody

/ ˈsɑːmədɪ, sɑːˈmɒdɪk, sæl-, ˈsæl- /

noun

1. the act of singing psalms or hymns

2. the art or practice of the setting to music or singing of psalms

Other Word Forms

• psalmodic adjective
• psalmodist noun
• psalmodical adjective
• psalmodial adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of psalmody¹

1300–50; Middle English < Late Latin psalmōdia < Greek psalmōidía singing to the harp. See psalm, ode, -y ³

Word History and Origins

Origin of psalmody¹

C14: via Late Latin from Greek psalmōdia singing accompanied by a harp, from psalmos (see _psalm ) + ōidē _ode

Example Sentences

Mr. Schleiermacher, comparing his group’s recording of the Largo with the scene from “Lucullus,” said that “there is indeed a certain similarity,” adding that both contain “echoes of liturgical recitative chants, almost psalmody.”

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The Liszt pupils have had their say, and their pupils are beginning to intone the psalmody of uncritical praise.

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These speculations were expanded into a myth relating that Satan was the steward of heaven, charged with the duty of collecting the daily amount of praise and psalmody due by the angels to God.

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"It is ordered that we remember it in special prayer and psalmody to the Lord, with thanksgiving on the anniversary of our landing; you heard that, Constantia?" her stepmother responded.

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The outer rows were for the novices, and the backs of their stalls formed the desks used by the professed monks, whereon they rested the ponderous tomes containing the sacred psalmody.

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