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vocalise

1 American  
[voh-kuh-leez] / ˌvoʊ kəˈliz /

noun

  1. a musical composition consisting of the singing of melody with vowel sounds or nonsense syllables rather than text, as for special effect in classical compositions, in polyphonic jazz singing by special groups, or in virtuoso vocal exercises.

  2. any such singing exercise or vocalized melody.


vocalise 2 American  
[voh-kuh-lahyz] / ˈvoʊ kəˌlaɪz /

verb (used with or without object)

vocalised, vocalising
  1. Chiefly British. vocalize.


vocalise British  
/ ˌvəʊkəˈliːz /

noun

  1. a musical passage sung upon one vowel as an exercise to develop flexibility and control of pitch and tone; solfeggio

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of vocalise

1870–75; < French vocalise, apparently noun derivative of vocaliser to vocalize, with -ise taken as a noun suffix ( see -ise 2)


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:

Louise and Andy Davies, from Brecon, sought help when their three-year-old son Ethan became frustrated when he could not vocalise what he wanted to say.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2022

In some moments this is explicit — note the cooing vocalise and ad-agency camerawork when Yangjin prepares a special goodbye meal of hard-to-find white rice.

From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2022

The Kalevala text is whispered, not sung; the rest of the soprano part is almost entirely vocalise: wordless singing.

From New York Times ● Oct. 10, 2019

Both feature women in their early 20s, who found themselves in circumstances they didn’t want, but felt unable to fully vocalise that they had reached their comfort limits.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 17, 2018

This is true, whether the student sings an exercise, a vocalise, a song, or an aria.

From The Psychology of Singing A Rational Method of Voice Culture Based on a Scientific Analysis of All Systems, Ancient and Modern by David C. (David Clark) Taylor

It revealed that greater spatial overlap between clans caused their respective identity coda repertoires to become more different from each other, by modulating the frequency with which they are vocalised.

From Science Daily ● May 16, 2024

"We recorded the shamanic practitioner and found that they repeatedly vocalised tones at 231 Hz, which were then amplified by the cave at its natural frequency."

From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2023

During wilderness orientation in Canada, Naomi said she was the "biggest scaredy-cat - I vocalised my nerves" and thinks this made others write her off.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2023

The new arrangement was to have been performed without instrumental accompaniment by a choir who would have vocalised the tune, a style of singing often using vowel sounds but not full words.

From BBC ● Nov. 16, 2021

The soprano in the centre, vocalised in her highest register, bringing out the notes with vigorous twists of her entire body, and tossing them off into the air with sharp flirts of her head.

From The Pit by Frank Norris

They arrived "bright, alert and responsive" and quickly began "vocalising to the females on the other side of the gate", he says.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

The Atlantic dataset comprised two different clans and had rich annotations of the coda types recorded, the identity of the vocalising whales and their social relations.

From Science Daily ● May 16, 2024

"In this study, we used recordings of chickens vocalising in all different scenarios from a previous experiment," Professor Henning said.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 2, 2024

Before the cast took the stage, a group of musicians and dancers playing African drums and vocalising gave a spine-tingling performance that had the crowd on their feet.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2022

The eldest Miss Botting knew Kipps was the sort of guest who requires nursing, and she came forward vocalising charm.

From Kipps The Story of a Simple Soul by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

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