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• song
  song

  noun

  a short metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad.
• Song
  Song

  noun

  a dynasty in China, a.d. 960–1279, characterized by a high level of achievement in painting, ceramics, and philosophy: overthrown by the Mongols. Also Sung

song

¹ American  

[sawng, song] / sɔŋ, sɒŋ /

noun

• songs
  plural

1. a short metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad.

2. a musical piece adapted for singing or simulating a piece to be sung.

   Mendelssohn's “Songs without Words.”

3. poetical composition; poetry.

4. the art or act of singing; vocal music.

5. something that is sung.

6. an elaborate vocal signal produced by an animal, as the distinctive sounds produced by certain birds, frogs, etc., in a courtship or territorial display.

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idioms

1. for a song, at a very low price; as a bargain.

   We bought the rug for a song when the estate was auctioned off.

Song ² American  

[sawng] / sɔŋ /

noun

Pinyin.

1. a dynasty in China, a.d. 960–1279, characterized by a high level of achievement in painting, ceramics, and philosophy: overthrown by the Mongols. Also Sung

2. Ailing Ai-ling Soong.

3. Qingling Ching-ling Soong.

4. Meiling Mei-ling Soong.

5. Ziwen Tse-ven Soong.

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song ¹ British  

/ sɒŋ /

noun

1. 1. a piece of music, usually employing a verbal text, composed for the voice, esp one intended for performance by a soloist

   2. the whole repertory of such pieces

   3. ( as modifier )

      a song book

2. poetical composition; poetry

3. the characteristic tuneful call or sound made by certain birds or insects

4. the act or process of singing

   they raised their voices in song

5. at a bargain price

6. informal performing at peak efficiency or ability

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Song ² British  

/ sʊŋ /

noun

1. the Pinyin transliteration of the Chinese name for Sung

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song More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing song

• for a song
• swan song

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• songlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• songs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of song

First recorded before 900; Middle English song, sang, Old English; cognate with German Sang, Old Norse sǫngr, Gothic saggws

Explanation

Feeling happy? Feeling sad? Sing a song! A song is poetry set to music, and there’s a song for every occasion, from “Happy Birthday” to “Here Comes the Bride.” Tra la la! Most songs have words, or lyrics, though not all of them do — and we call the musical sound a bird makes a song as well. Sometimes rhyming poems are called songs, like Pablo Neruda's "April Rain Song." If your friend tells you she bought her bicycle "for a song," that simply means it was inexpensive, not that she actually had to sing a song to get it.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

song Song songs

A closer look at a Beatles deep cut: Did you know that the Beatles’ all-time most popular song never made the charts—and wasn’t even written by John or Paul?

From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026

More than a decade after scam rap emerged from the buzzier, grimier corners of Detroit hip-hop, a scammer anthem from a South Floridian is arguably the song of the summer.

From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026

"In the song, the man is concerned about his situation, and he's asking his wife, 'Am I the man of your dreams, or just a guy from your hometown?'," he explains.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

The song was “Evidence,” composed by Thelonious Monk.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

Someone has removed the Cohan song and started playing dance music instead.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

“From a bond-investor’s perspective, the bottom line is about where you put your money to work,” said Henry Song, a portfolio manager at Diamond Hill.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026

The second half of “The Song of Stork and Dromedary” is composed of novella-length works that move into the 20th and 21st centuries and whose connection to the Draydens are indirect and thematic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

Organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest are proposing major rule changes to discourage voting campaigns that aim to influence the results.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Clients have drifted away from Song Oh-soon's fortune-telling village on the edge of Seoul, preferring online AI-powered divination to the centuries-old prophesying tradition still practised there.

From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026

On it there’s a microphone, a complicated-looking remote, and a thick book that has Song Menu written on the cover in three languages.

From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon

Russians’ social media feeds filled up with videos of people biting into apples, lip-syncing to songs about apples and inking tattoos with the fruit that is the party’s symbol.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

Groups of friends are still singing the words to their favorite Soulja Boy songs and parents are strapping their antsy toddlers into strollers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

It's one of 23 songs he recorded in Nashville over a period of just three weeks.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

The “All Eyez on Me” album stretches across 27 songs over more than two hours.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

The bird who flies the highest will find the most beautiful voice in the world and return to earth to sing the most beautiful songs.'

From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell