twangy

American  

[twang-ee] / ˈtwæŋ i /

adjective

1. having the sharp, vibrating tone of a plucked string.

2. having a nasal voice quality.

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Other Word Forms

• twanginess noun

Etymology

Origin of twangy

First recorded in 1885–90; twang + -y ¹

Example Sentences

As a country-western band plucked out a twangy cover of a Beyoncé hit, I grapevined and box-stepped alongside fellow passengers aboard the Celebrity Xcel, the premium cruise line’s newest vessel.

From The Wall Street Journal

On the opening “Vexations,” for example, acoustic drums are mixed with sequencers of various types and a twangy electric guitar part from Mr. Parker that recalls the dusty atmosphere of composer Ennio Morricone’s spaghetti-western scores, a consistent inspiration throughout Tortoise’s history.

From The Wall Street Journal

Carpenter’s singing plays like an actor’s sizzle reel, by turns winsome, sneering, bubbly and resigned; in the twangy “Go Go Juice” alone — it’s about a woman who’s woken up at 10 a.m. and opted to spend the day drunk-dialing exes — she runs through every emotional gradient separating determination from shame.

From Los Angeles Times

His 2025 debut album, “The Select” — its title nods to the Parisian brasserie from Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” — puts bluesy guitar riffs against low-slung soul-rock grooves, as in the twangy “Let ’Em Talk” and the waltz-time “Ends of the Earth,” which has been streamed more than 70 million times on Spotify and is slowly moving up the country radio chart.

From Los Angeles Times

A child of the Dust Bowl, Owens was born in Texas and spent much of his childhood in Arizona before popping up in Bakersfield‘s nascent music club scene. He brought a twangy sound to country ballads, and by the 1950s and 1960s, that sound had turned his city into a western rival to Nashville. Some of his hits included “Together Again,” “Crying Time,” “Love’s Gonna Live Here,” “I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail” and “Under Your Spell Again.”

From Los Angeles Times