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vocal

adjective

Showing vocal , the base form of “vocals”.

Simple meaning

Of, about, or resembling the human voice or speech.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

vohkuhl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈvoʊkəl

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling the human voice or speech.

  2. music

    Relating to or designed for or using the singing voice

  3. music

    Relating to, composed or arranged for, or sung by the human voice.

  4. Expressing opinions or feelings freely, loudly, or insistently.

  5. Uttered or modulated by the voice; expressed in words.

  6. Full of voices.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Of, pertaining to, or resembling the human voice or speech.

Used this way, vocal is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use vocal

  • “She has a very strong vocal range and sings beautifully.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Expressing

vocal expression

Musical

vocal score

Other combinations

vocal musicvocal tractvocal cordvocal foldsvocal organsvocal line

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • vocalistnounPerson or profession

    A person who sings.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • vocal cordnounCompound term

    Either of two pairs of folds of mucous membrane projecting into the larynx.

  • vocal foldnounCompound term

    Either of two pairs of folds of mucous membrane projecting into the larynx.

  • vocal bandnounCompound term

    Either of two pairs of folds of mucous membrane projecting into the larynx.

  • vocal musicnounCompound term

    Music intended to be performed by one or more singers, usually with instrumental accompaniment.

  • vocal organnounCompound term

    Any of the organs involved in speech production.

  • false vocal cordnounCompound term

    Either of the upper two vocal cords that are not involved in vocalization.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • rima vocalisnounRelated term

    The space between the two true vocal folds.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Antonyms

Sense: of or pertaining to

instrumental

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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.