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To the ancient Greeks, anything lyrikos was appropriate to the lyre. That elegant stringed instrument was highly regarded by the Greeks and was used to accompany intensely personal poetry that revealed the thoughts and feelings of the poet. When the adjective lyric, a descendant of lyrikos, was adopted into English in the 1500s, it too referred to things pertaining or adapted to the lyre. Initially, it was applied to poetic forms (such as elegies, odes, or sonnets) that express strong emotion, to poets who write such works, or to things meant to be sung. Over time, it was extended to anything musical or rhapsodic. Nowadays, lyric is also used as a noun naming either a type of poem or the words of a song.
Examples of lyric in a Sentence
Michael Cox, New York Times, 29 June 2025
References to New York City venues and streets grace songs whose synths tilt toward trance music while lyrics speak to clawing toward a hard-won joie de vivre.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 27 June 2025
Gabrielle Bellot, Literary Hub, 24 June 2025
Apple also doubled down on games, added new features, including lyric translation to Apple Music, and introduced new options for its Vision Pro headset, among other things.
—Michele Luhn, CNBC, 10 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for lyric
Cite this Entry
“Lyric.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lyric. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
lyric
1 of 2 noun
lyric
2 of 2 adjective
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