| Library / English Dictionary |
MELODY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The perception of pleasant arrangements of musical notes
Synonyms:
melody; tonal pattern
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("melody" is a kind of...):
musical perception (the auditory perception of musical sounds)
Derivation:
melodious (containing or constituting or characterized by pleasing melody)
melodious (having a musical sound; especially a pleasing tune)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence
Example:
she was humming an air from Beethoven
Synonyms:
air; line; melodic line; melodic phrase; melody; strain; tune
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("melody" is a kind of...):
music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)
Meronyms (parts of "melody"):
musical phrase; phrase (a short musical passage)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "melody"):
fanfare; flourish; tucket ((music) a short lively tune played on brass instruments)
glissando (a rapid series of ascending or descending notes on the musical scale)
roulade ((music) an elaborate run of several notes sung to one syllable)
leitmotif; leitmotiv (a melodic phrase that accompanies the reappearance of a person or situation (as in Wagner's operas))
theme song (a melody that recurs and comes to represent a musical play or movie)
signature; signature tune; theme song (a melody used to identify a performer or a dance band or radio/tv program)
idea; melodic theme; musical theme; theme ((music) melodic subject of a musical composition)
part; voice (the melody carried by a particular voice or instrument in polyphonic music)
Derivation:
melodious (containing or constituting or characterized by pleasing melody)
melodious (having a musical sound; especially a pleasing tune)
melodize (supply a melody for)
Context examples:
All the melody on earth is concentrated in my Jane's tongue to my ear (I am glad it is not naturally a silent one): all the sunshine I can feel is in her presence.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
But there I always found her, the same bright housewife; often humming her Devonshire ballads when no strange foot was coming up the stairs, and blunting the sharp boy in his official closet with melody.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Hugo, getting thirsty after a long warble, drinks it, loses his wits, and after a good deal of clutching and stamping, falls flat and dies, while Hagar informs him what she has done in a song of exquisite power and melody.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
When the melody rose, her voice broke up sweetly, following it, in a way contralto voices have, and each change tipped out a little of her warm human magic upon the air.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
At nine o'clock, one morning late in July Gatsby's gorgeous car lurched up the rocky drive to my door and gave out a burst of melody from its three noted horn.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
