rhapsody
Americannoun
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Music. an instrumental composition irregular in form and suggestive of improvisation.
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an ecstatic expression of feeling or enthusiasm.
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an epic poem, or a part of such a poem, as a book of the Iliad, suitable for recitation at one time.
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a similar piece of modern literature.
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an unusually intense or irregular poem or piece of prose.
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Archaic. a miscellaneous collection; jumble.
noun
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music a composition free in structure and highly emotional in character
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an expression of ecstatic enthusiasm
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(in ancient Greece) an epic poem or part of an epic recited by a rhapsodist
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a literary work composed in an intense or exalted style
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rapturous delight or ecstasy
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obsolete a medley
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of rhapsody
1535–45; < Latin rhapsōdia < Greek rhapsōidía recital of epic poetry, equivalent to rhapsōid ( ós ) rhapsodist + -ia -y 3
Explanation
A rhapsody is an impassioned speech or sentiment. Your rhapsody about the desserts at your city's new restaurant has all of your friends drooling and dying to try them. A rhapsody is also part of an epic poem that is suitable for reciting. The word comes from the Greek word rhapsodios, which means a person who recites epic poems, and whose root is rhaptein, meaning to stitch. A rhapsody is also a musical piece noted for its improvisational nature and irregular form. Perhaps the most famous of this type of music is George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," composed in 1924.
Vocabulary lists containing rhapsody
Poetry
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The Night Circus
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"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 3
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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:
Another inspires a short rhapsody detailing the six-figure worth of a Richard Mille Felipe Massa automatic chronograph with a rose gold skeleton and a flyback function.
From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2025
Their meeting was almost poetic, a confluence of basketball eras, a rhapsody in sneakers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2024
His book has recipes, but really it’s an often funny rhapsody of awe at the joy allowed humans in the simple act of eating.
From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
When she’s out there onstage, framed in azure light and singing with deep passion and total commitment, she really is a rhapsody in blue.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 28, 2022
The House had then decided never again to allow itself to become inflamed by the mere rant and rhapsody of a meddling fanatic” and had argued “that the subject would never be stirred again.”
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
We will sing our rhapsodies to “heaven and nature” and the Lord’s coming.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 23, 2022
Long before Holmes came along, business reporters had written rhapsodies to the likes of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 16, 2021
But rather than offer misty-eyed rhapsodies to the good old days, Farrell seems most enlivened with ideas about how to fight for a better future.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 7, 2020
Its blueprint-like first records, extending from bebop and Ellingtonian rhapsodies, swinging and atmospheric and mysterious and noisy, were made 60 years ago.
From New York Times ● Jun. 9, 2016
So far, it ran to minute descriptions of the lush furnishings of Sherry’s house, rhapsodies over Sherry’s exquisite clothes, and course-by-course accounts of fabulous meals consumed by the heroine.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
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.
