lyric
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
The words of a song or other vocal music.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
lihrikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlɪɹɪk
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
usually in the plural
The words of a song or other vocal music.
A short poem of songlike quality
A lyric poem.
adjective
poetry
Of or relating to a category of poetry that expresses emotion (often in a songlike way)
poetry
Of, or relating to a type of poetry (such as a sonnet or ode) that expresses subjective thoughts and feelings, often in a songlike style.
Of or relating to a writer of such poetry.
Relating to or being musical drama
Used of a singer or singing voice that is light in volume and modest in range
Melodious.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The words of a song or other vocal music.
Used this way, lyric 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
Nearby words
- coloratura , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use lyric
- “His compositions always started with the lyrics.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A person who writes the words for songs.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A short poem of songlike quality.
The lyric of a love song.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: words of a song or other vocal music
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.
Collections with this word
Themed sets you can browse for free.
Use it yourself
Keep learning “lyric” by choosing the kind of practice you need next.
- Practice sentence writingWrite sentences with vocabulary and get instant feedback.
- Practice in contextAnswer short vocabulary questions drawn from real situations.
- Review vocabularyTest your recall and strengthen words over time.
- Practice typingType vocabulary in short rounds that draw from words you've learned and saved.
Want to type words like this one without looking at the keyboard? Each typing round draws from words you've learned, saved or need to review. Follow the free Learn to Type lessons and type your own vocabulary with confidence.
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.