lyric
Plurallyrics
Plurallyrics
- 1The words of a song or other piece of vocal music.
She changed a single lyric in the chorus to fit the new melody.
Fans printed the lyrics and sang every line back at the band.
Similarwords
Note
Usually plural: a song's lyrics are its words taken together. The singular survives for a single line or phrase, as in "the lyric in line 3 doesn't rhyme." In hip-hop a lyric can be one rhymed shot, as in Gang Starr's "Moment of Truth" (1998). Keep it apart from a lyric poem, which is a complete work rather than words written for music.
- 2Relating to a kind of poetry, such as a sonnet or ode, that expresses personal thoughts and feelings in a songlike style.
The anthology gathers lyric poems written across four centuries.
Her seminar traced lyric verse from the Romantic poets to modern songwriters.
Note
The core literary sense, and the one that carries the word's history: Latin lyricus, from Greek lurikós, from lúra, "lyre". Greek lyric poetry was verse sung to the lyre. The term sets apart poems in which a single voice speaks its own feeling, such as the sonnet, ode and elegy, from narrative and dramatic poetry. It sits before its noun: lyric verse, the lyric tradition.
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- 4Having a smooth, tuneful, sweet-sounding quality.
The flute carried a lyric line that floated above the orchestra.
Reviewers admired the pianist's lyric touch in the quieter passages.
Similarmelodic, melodious, tuneful, mellifluous, lilting
Oppositeharsh, discordant, strident
- 5Relating to a writer of lyric poetry: poems that express personal thoughts and feelings.
Sappho is celebrated as a lyric poet of ancient Greece.
Her lyric gift shows in every slim collection of verse she publishes.
- 6Expressing deep personal emotion in a poetic, flowing manner.
His memoir turns lyric whenever he recalls his late father.
The director gave the farewell scene a lyric, dreamlike quality.
Similarpoetic, expressive, rhapsodic
Note
Here lyric stands in for lyrical, and the two can trade places: a lyric passage, a lyrical passage. The distinction worth keeping is scope. This sense praises a mood in any medium, whether a memoir, a film or a single scene. By contrast, the poetry sense names a category of verse and makes no judgment about how moving it is.
- 7Relating to opera and other forms of musical drama.
Paris boasts one of Europe's oldest lyric theaters.
The conductor specializes in lyric repertoire from the bel canto era.
Similaroperatic
- 8Describing a light, flexible singing voice of moderate range.
Her lyric soprano shone in the delicate, fast-moving passages.
Casting directors wanted a lyric tenor rather than a heavier dramatic one.
Oppositedramatic
- 9Relating to the lyre, or sometimes the harp, stringed instruments of the ancient world.
The poet's words were meant for lyric performance, sung over the plucked lyre.
Reconstructions of lyric music show how verse and the lyre intertwined.
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Origin
This comes from French 'lyrique' or its source, Latin 'lyricus', from Ancient Greek 'lurikós', derived from 'lúra' meaning 'lyre'. The original Greek sense of 'lyric poetry': poetry accompanied by the lyre, i.e. words set to music: eventually gave rise to 'lyrics' as the words of a song, first recorded in 1876.