chord
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A combination of three or more notes that blend harmoniously when sounded together.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kawrdIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɔɹd
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
music
A combination of three or more notes that blend harmoniously when sounded together
music
A harmonic set of three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously.
The string of a musical instrument.
verb
music
Bring into consonance, harmony, or accord while making music or singing
music
To accord; to harmonize together.
Play chords on (a stringed instrument)
transitive
To write chords for.
transitive
To provide with musical chords or strings; to string; to tune.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A combination of three or more notes that blend harmoniously when sounded together
Used this way, chord 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
- Matter-of-fact
- 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 chord
- “The geometry teacher drew a chord connecting two points on the circle.”noun
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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.