chant
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To sing or intone sacred text.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
chantIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtʃænt
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.
verb
To sing, especially without instruments, and as applied to monophonic and pre-modern music.
To sing or intone sacred text.
To utter or repeat in a strongly rhythmical manner, especially as a group.
noun
Type of singing done generally without instruments and harmony.
A repetitive song, typically an incantation or part of a ritual.
Twang; manner of speaking; a canting tone.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To sing, especially without instruments, and as applied to monophonic and pre-modern music.
Used this way, chant is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a musical use: it is everyday language among musicians and listeners, and specialised outside that.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Music/performance
- Arts writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use chant
- “The students chanted the same slogan over and over again.”verb
- “The rabbi chanted a prayer.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The act of singing in a monotonous tone.
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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.