# lyric

Pronunciation: say "LIR-ik" /ˈlɪɹɪk/

## Noun

1. The words of a song or other piece of vocal music.
   - Simple: The words that someone sings in a song or other 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._
3. A short poem expressing personal thoughts and feelings, often in a songlike manner.
   - Simple: A short poem that shares personal feelings, often like a song.
   - _She composed a tender lyric for the anniversary of her wedding._
   - _Many of Wordsworth's lyrics dwell on memory and the natural world._

## Adjective

2. Relating to a kind of poetry, such as a sonnet or ode, that expresses personal thoughts and feelings in a songlike style.
   - Simple: Describing poetry that shares a person's own thoughts and feelings in a songlike way.
   - _The anthology gathers lyric poems written across four centuries._
   - _Her seminar traced lyric verse from the Romantic poets to modern songwriters._
4. Having a smooth, tuneful, sweet-sounding quality.
   - Simple: Sounding sweet and pleasant to hear, like a flowing tune.
   - _The flute carried a lyric line that floated above the orchestra._
   - _Reviewers admired the pianist's lyric touch in the quieter passages._
5. Relating to a writer of lyric poetry: poems that express personal thoughts and feelings.
   - Simple: Relating to a poet who writes poems that share personal feelings.
   - _Sappho is celebrated as a lyric poet of ancient Greece._
   - _Her lyric gift shows in every slim collection of verse she publishes._
6. Expressing deep personal emotion in a poetic, flowing manner.
   - Simple: Full of feeling and written in a poetic, flowing way.
   - _His memoir turns lyric whenever he recalls his late father._
   - _The director gave the farewell scene a lyric, dreamlike quality._
7. Relating to opera and other forms of musical drama.
   - Simple: Relating to opera and plays that are set to music.
   - _Paris boasts one of Europe's oldest lyric theaters._
   - _The conductor specializes in lyric repertoire from the bel canto era._
8. Describing a light, flexible singing voice of moderate range.
   - Simple: Describing a light singing voice that has a small range.
   - _Her lyric soprano shone in the delicate, fast-moving passages._
   - _Casting directors wanted a lyric tenor rather than a heavier dramatic one._
9. Relating to the lyre, or sometimes the harp, stringed instruments of the ancient world.
   - Simple: Relating to the lyre, an old stringed instrument like a small harp.
   - _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._

## 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.

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