as in accent
the attractive quality of speech or music that rises and falls in a pleasing pattern
There was a charming lilt to her voice. a tune with a lilt
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Recent Examples of lilt
Liam Hess, Vogue, 4 Feb. 2026
Being the naive newbie in Idaho does suit Cale, with his British lilt and fey enthusiasm for the manliness of the West.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 6 Nov. 2025
Cat Cardenas, Rolling Stone, 13 Oct. 2025
Carpenter is plainly a student of Parton’s, evoking her pinup styling (voluminous hair, big red lips), her persona (sharp with a knowing wink), and her voice, which is rich and husky and accompanied by a country lilt.
—Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lilt
Noun
As the song unfolds, their voices begin to braid together like twin strands of ivy—a Scottish lilt and a Montana twang—creeping across a hard stone wall of fuzzy grunge guitars.
—Liam Hess, Vogue, 4 Feb. 2026
Being the naive newbie in Idaho does suit Cale, with his British lilt and fey enthusiasm for the manliness of the West.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 6 Nov. 2025
Verb
The album is a triumphant release that balances anger and grief and, at times, surprising joy, with Estrada’s bright, lilting soprano piercing through the veil of her pain.
—Cat Cardenas, Rolling Stone, 13 Oct. 2025
Carpenter is plainly a student of Parton’s, evoking her pinup styling (voluminous hair, big red lips), her persona (sharp with a knowing wink), and her voice, which is rich and husky and accompanied by a country lilt.
—Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lilt
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lilt
Noun
-
Johansson spends the movie in an unfortunate blonde wig and glasses, with a thick Long Island accent, as the wife to Teller’s non-streetwise suburban dad, who unwittingly puts a target on his family’s back.—
Jada Yuan,
HollywoodReporter,
17 May 2026
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The interiors feature blue calcite marble in the bathrooms, dark ebony wood and leather accents in the main area, and in-room amenities including Bang & Olufsen speakers and Byredo toiletries.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
16 May 2026
Verb
-
Nat King Cole crooned about its kicks in a 1946 hit song.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Adam Sandler crooned it in the 2006 Click, as the soundtrack to his first kiss with Kate Beckinsale.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
23 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
On contact, Adames took off for third with the casual cadence of someone who thinks the inning is about to end.—
Justice delos Santos,
Mercury News,
14 May 2026
-
Yet the problem has grown sharply over the past decade as the cost of launches has dropped and the cadence of space flights has increased.—
Adam Kovac,
Scientific American,
13 May 2026
Verb
-
The track begins with Winter’s distinct vocals warbling and wobbling over a tender percussion groove.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
8 July 2025
-
The famous John Williams fanfare that blasted Star Wars onto our screens had appreciably less impact than even a standard screen would now offer, let alone IMAX and Dolby Cinema premium offerings while at some parts of the film, the sound warbled a little, before returning to normal.—
Benny Har-Even,
Forbes.com,
13 June 2025
Noun
-
Each with a bespoke gentleness to their rhythms, these newest works by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Koji Fukada, and grand master Hirokazu Koreeda have been met with differing degrees of enthusiasm, per the many critics’ grids floating around.—
Ritesh Mehta,
IndieWire,
22 May 2026
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The point is, owners need to be thinking about the rhythm of the business rather than one-off transactions, and prioritizing cash flow over the vanity of locking in the lowest rate.—
Matthew Meehan,
Forbes.com,
22 May 2026
Verb
-
In the fall, the workers trade in their pruning shears for knives sharp enough to skin a deer in minutes.—
Craig Shoup,
Nashville Tennessean,
28 Nov. 2025
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Today there’s a rich universe of supplemental Pynchon material ranging from prose only an English PhD could unpack, to sharp analysis that makes the experience of reading Pynchon communal and fun.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Ventilators hummed in an intensive care unit.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
22 May 2026
-
The Hidden Liability In Your Basement For decades, the physical server room was treated as a necessary evil—rows of network video recorders (NVRs) humming in back offices, consulted only after something went wrong and then forgotten.—
Robert Messer,
Forbes.com,
20 May 2026
Verb
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In a now-viral clip, Carpenter overheard someone from the crowd trilling during her set for Weekend 1 and asked if the audience member was yodeling.—
Natalie Oganesyan,
Deadline,
11 Apr. 2026
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Serene spa music, a blend of classical piano and loudly chirping birds, trilled in the background as the machine sloshed and gurgled.—
Deborah Vankin,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Lilt.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lilt. Accessed 23 May. 2026.
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