Definition of melody
melodies
1 : a sweet or agreeable succession or arrangement of sounds whilst all the winds with melody are ringing — P. B. Shelley
2 : a rhythmic succession of single tones organized as an aesthetic whole a hummable melody the piper's fingers play the melody on a pipe called a chanter — Pat Cahill
People Are Reading
Examples of melody in a Sentence
He wrote a piece that includes some beautiful melodies.
a composer known for his love of melody
He sang a few old-fashioned melodies.
Recent Examples of melody from the Web
-
Parkpoint Drive 1030: Melody Restivo and Edmond Restivo, Jr. to Melinda McQuivey and Stephanie Nicastro, $537,000.
-
Or the Broadway melodies of Richard Rodgers with either clever lyrics by Lorenz Hart or the graceful words of Oscar Hammerstein II?
-
Saba’s DJ Dam Dam kicked off the set with a melody of newer rap that re-energized the crowd from the lackluster previous act.
-
Amazingly, Houston recorded the notoriously challenging melody in one single take.
-
Courtney Love is all about anger, excess, obsession, confession, and great melodies.
-
On Ti Amo, the veteran French pop rockers do everything well: infectious melodies, dance-ready beats, percolating synths, crunchy guitars, and stadium-worthy dynamics.
-
Cost of Living follows up Full Communism, the queer Latinx band’s explosive sophomore album, with lyrics that tackled themes like police brutality and white supremacy, layered on top of fast-churning, scrappy punk and rock saxophone melodies.
-
Two Cheers bring lots of energy and personality to the stage, with sinewy guitar lines, danceable rhythms and instantly contagious melodies.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'melody.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of melody
Middle English melodie, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin melodia, from Greek melōidia chanting, music, from melos limb, musical phrase, song (probably akin to Breton mell joint) + aeidein to sing — more at ode
MELODY Defined for English Language Learners
melody
playDefinition of melody for English Language Learners
-
: a pleasing series of musical notes that form the main part of a song or piece of music
-
: a song or tune
MELODY Defined for Kids
melody
playDefinition of melody for Students
melodies
1 : pleasing arrangement of sounds
2 : a series of musical notes or tones arranged in a definite pattern of pitch and rhythm
3 : the main part in a musical composition
Learn More about melody
-
Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for melody Spanish Central: Translation of melody Nglish: Translation of melody for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of melody for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about melody
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up melody? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Writing? Check your grammar now!