ballad
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A narrative poem of popular origin.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
baluhdSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbæləd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A narrative poem of popular origin
A kind of narrative poem, adapted for recitation or singing; especially, a sentimental or romantic poem in short stanzas.
A slow romantic song.
verb
intransitive
To compose or sing ballads.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A narrative poem of popular origin
Used this way, ballad is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Literature/storytelling
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: narrative poem of popular origin
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “ballad” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.