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 album is almost entirely instrumental, featuring a polyphonic blend of percussion, strings, keyboards, synths, and woodwinds, with André’s flute driving the downbeat. —Ime Ekpo, Forbes.com, 30 May 2025

Walter, whose polyphonic sensibility first charmed me in Beautiful Ruins, has here made something salty, sinewy, and satisfying from fairly tough material. —Emily Temple may 27, Literary Hub, 27 May 2025

In turn, her fiction felt lively and polyphonic. —Sanjena Sathian, Vulture, 24 Feb. 2025

The movie’s polyphonic introduction is also not sustained. —Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 25 Jan. 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