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

The attempts by the current administration to whitewash or erase certain aspects of American history, especially the horrors of slavery, are powerfully countered by the novel’s investigation of America’s origins and its polyphonic voices. —Time, 12 May 2026

We are left just with voices, and those voices, in the novel’s subtle and canny repetitions, begin to merge with one another, becoming polyphonic. —Nicholas Dames, The Atlantic, 7 Apr. 2026

The choral elements on the record shine most vividly on the title track, which features polyphonic swells of voices humming melodies, overtaking the piano, dropping and then rising again. —Hanif Abdurraqib, New Yorker, 6 Feb. 2026

Women who worked in shops sang together in bellowing, polyphonic unison. —Emma Madden, Pitchfork, 21 Dec. 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