ledger line
noun
Simple meaning
A musical notation to inscribe notes outside the lines and spaces of the regular musical staves.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
lehjerlynSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlɛdʒɚˈlaɪn
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 musical notation to inscribe notes outside the lines and spaces of the regular musical staves; a line slightly longer than the note is drawn parallel to the staff, above or below, spaced at the same distances as the notes within the staff.
fishing
A short line; a notation for extending the range above or below the staff
fishing
A fishing line used with ledger bait for bottom fishing; a ligger.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A musical notation to inscribe notes outside the lines and spaces of the regular musical staves; a line slightly longer than the note is drawn parallel to the staff, above or below, spaced at the same distances as the notes within the staff.
Used this way, ledger line is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. This is a musical use: it is everyday language among musicians and listeners, and specialised outside that.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Mild
- 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.
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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.