music
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Sounds organized in a pleasing way to create songs or art
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
myoozikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmjuzɪk
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 series of sounds organized in time, usually employing some combination of harmony, melody, rhythm, tempo, etc., often to convey a mood.
An art form, created by organizing pitch, rhythm, and sounds made using musical instruments and/or singing.
music
The sounds produced by singers or musical instruments (or reproductions of such sounds)
Any agreeable (pleasing and harmonious) sounds
“He fell asleep to the music of the wind chimes.”
figuratively
Any interesting or pleasing sounds.
A guide to playing or singing a particular tune; sheet music.
verb
transitive
To seduce or entice with music.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A series of sounds organized in time, usually employing some combination of harmony, melody, rhythm, tempo, etc., often to convey a mood.
Used this way, music is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. This is a musical use: it is everyday language among musicians and listeners, and specialised outside that.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- 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 music
- “He fell asleep to the music of the wind chimes.”noun
- “His music was his central interest.”noun
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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.
The scholarly and scientific study of music.
Characterized by or capable of producing music.
In a musical manner.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An inaudible music that Pythagoras thought was produced by the celestial.
Paper with lines appropriate for writing music.
A light stand for holding sheets of printed music.
A school for the study of music.
A light stand for holding sheets of printed music.
A stool for piano players.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Artistry in performing music.
A piece of music that has been adapted for performance by a particular set of voices or instruments.
Produces music by means of pins on a revolving cylinder that strike the tuned teeth of a comb-like metal plate.
A child's game in which players march to music around a group of chairs that contains one chair less than the number of players.
Opera in which the musical and dramatic elements are equally important.
An expressive style of music.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- orchestranoun
- ensemblenoun
- conductornoun
- symphonynoun
- soundtracknoun
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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.