elevator music

noun

: instrumental arrangements of popular songs often piped in (as to an elevator or retail store)

Examples of elevator music in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Tufnel and his wife own a cheese shop in an English village; St. Hubbins writes elevator music and is working on a score for a horror film called Night of the Assisted Living Dead; Smalls operates a glue museum. Christopher J. Scalia, The Washington Examiner, 26 Sep. 2025 Customers rarely remember the exact response time, unless they were tortured with on-repeat elevator music. Tayfun Bilsel, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025 The radios by default play calming elevator music, perhaps for the apprehensive. Alex Golden, Axios, 28 May 2025 The climactic battle feels hasty in the moment, but dragging it out any longer — or worse, having to make everyone recite the usual vampire-killing rules — would have been duller than elevator music. Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for elevator music

Word History

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of elevator music was in 1963

Cite this Entry

“Elevator music.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elevator%20music. Accessed 4 Oct. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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