polyphonic

adjective

poly·​phon·​ic ˌpä-lē-ˈfä-nik 

variants or polyphonous

pə-ˈli-fə-nəs 

1

: of, relating to, or marked by polyphony

2

: being a polyphone

polyphonically

ˌpä-lē-ˈfä-ni-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

or polyphonously

Did you know?

Since poly- means "many", polyphonic music has "many voices". In polyphony, each part has its own melody, and they weave together in a web that may become very dense; a famous piece by Thomas Tallis, composed around 1570, has 40 separate voice parts. Polyphony reached its height during the 16th century with Italian madrigals and the sacred music of such composers as Tallis, Palestrina, and Byrd. Usually when we speak of polyphony we're talking about music of Bach's time and earlier; but the principles remain the same today, and songwriters such as the Beatles have sometimes used polyphony as well.

Examples of polyphonic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Zivix reports that its algorithms can register complex playing techniques like polyphonic bends, slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs, tapping and muting. —New Atlas, 21 Aug. 2025

Byrd is the word: Revel in the polyphonic glories of William Byrd, perhaps the greatest and certainly most influential of all the English Renaissance composers, in a setting that surely would have felt home to him, as a composer of sacred songs. —Randy McMullen, Mercury News, 17 July 2025

The end result is a polyphonic spree of subcontinental flavors. —Jordan Michelman, Bon Appetit Magazine, 4 July 2025

Canadian poetry is polyphonic, exploratory, and urgent. —Literary Hub, 1 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1776, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing polyphonic

• polyphonic prose

Rhymes for polyphonic

• anharmonic
• anionic
• avionic
• catatonic
• cationic
• chorionic
• cosmogonic
• diachronic
• diatonic
• electronic
• embryonic
• excitonic