: a polyphonic choral composition on a sacred text usually without instrumental accompaniment
Examples of motet in a Sentence
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Latin polyphony and motets are being sung at the Offertory and during the distribution of Holy Communion.
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Arkansas Online, 7 June 2025
The service and concert will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 5, at the church, 815 S. Washington St.
Castle Singers are vocalists who perform a variety of chamber repertoire, varying from Renaissance madrigals and motets to contemporary pop and vocal jazz.
—Aurora Beacon-News, Chicago Tribune, 4 Mar. 2025
Her husband, my grandfather, was not only a composer who wrote liturgical music, motets, symphonies, and string quartets but also a beloved music teacher who believed that music was as crucial to the development of the mind as math.
—Stephanie H. Murray, The Atlantic, 18 Dec. 2024
Repetition with fidelity led, with the aid of print, to longer organized forms such as the motet, a vocal music composition, and the conductus, a Latin song with a rhythmic structure.
—Lynn Whidden, Scientific American, 26 July 2024
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Arkansas Online, 7 June 2025
The service and concert will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 5, at the church, 815 S. Washington St.
Castle Singers are vocalists who perform a variety of chamber repertoire, varying from Renaissance madrigals and motets to contemporary pop and vocal jazz.
—Aurora Beacon-News, Chicago Tribune, 4 Mar. 2025
Her husband, my grandfather, was not only a composer who wrote liturgical music, motets, symphonies, and string quartets but also a beloved music teacher who believed that music was as crucial to the development of the mind as math.
—Stephanie H. Murray, The Atlantic, 18 Dec. 2024
Repetition with fidelity led, with the aid of print, to longer organized forms such as the motet, a vocal music composition, and the conductus, a Latin song with a rhythmic structure.
—Lynn Whidden, Scientific American, 26 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for motet
Cite this Entry
“Motet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motet. Accessed 21 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
motet
noun
mo·tet
mō-ˈtet 
: a form of church music to be sung by several voices usually without accompanying instruments and with several melodies woven together
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