# harmony

Pronunciation: US say "HAR-muh-nee" /ˈhɑɹ.mə.ni/; UK say "HAH-muh-nee" /ˈhɑː.mə.ni/

## Noun

1. A state of agreement, accord, or peaceful coexistence between people or things.
   - Simple: A state in which people get along well and agree with each other.
   - _The treaty restored harmony between the rival nations._
   - _Working in harmony, the volunteers finished the project ahead of schedule._
2. A pleasing combination of varied elements or an agreeable arrangement of sounds.
   - Simple: A pleasing way that different parts or sounds fit nicely together.
   - _The garden's design achieved a harmony of color, texture, and form._
   - _Critics praised the film for the harmony between its score and its imagery._
3. Two or more notes sounded at the same time to produce a chord.
   - Simple: Two or more musical notes played at the same time to make a chord.
   - _The arranger wrote close harmony for the backing vocalists._
   - _A simple melody gains depth when harmony is added beneath it._
4. The relationship between two distinct musical pitches played at the same time.
   - Simple: How two different musical notes sound when played together at the same time.
   - _The harmony between the two violins shifted from tense to sweet._
   - _Composers exploit the harmony of widely spaced pitches for dramatic effect._
5. The academic study of chords and their construction.
   - Simple: The school subject that studies chords and how notes go together.
   - _He spent two semesters on harmony and counterpoint._
   - _The textbook introduces harmony through Bach's chorales._
6. A written work that systematically arranges parallel passages from different historians of the same events to show their agreement.
   - Simple: A book that puts side by side what different writers wrote about the same events to show they agree.
   - _The editor's harmony aligned the rival histories column by column._
   - _Their harmony of the Gospels reconciled the four narratives into one sequence._

## Origin

First attested in 1602, it came through Middle English 'armonye' and Old French 'harmonie' from Latin 'harmonia,' from Ancient Greek 'harmonía' ('joint, union, agreement, concord of sounds'). This is linked to Greek 'harmózō' ('I fit together'), from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂er- ('to join, fit together').

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/harmony (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).