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melodious

UK/məˈləʊdi.əs/US/məˈloʊdi.əs/
adjectiveC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,296 of 15,258neutral

Melodious means pleasant and tuneful to hear. A melodious voice, melodious birdsong, melodious and warm.

It is used of voices and of birdsong more than of music itself, which is odd for a word built on melody. It is warm and slightly old-fashioned. Note melodic, which is the technical term about melody, where melodious is a judgement that the sound is pleasant.

Definitions of melodious

  1. 1adjectivemelodiousPleasant and tuneful to hear.C2

    “The blackbird's melodious song drifted through the open window.”

    synonyms: tuneful, mellifluous

melodious is a quality of sound.

Where it comes from

Middle French melodieus comes from melodie, from Greek meloidia, singing. Ode and melody come from the same singing.

  1. Middle French

    melodieus

  2. Middle English

    melodious

  3. English, today

    melodious

Middle English melodious, from Middle French melodieus, melodieux. by surface analysis, melod(i) + melody + ous.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Sounds & Noises

Practise this word

melodious in the wild

  • The ones produced by hand however are still considered of higher quality due to the richer and more melodious sound.

    Suzu (bell)

  • Quyi ("melodious art") and shuochang yishu ("speaking and singing art") are umbrella terms for over 300 regional genres of traditional Chinese oral performing arts.

    Quyi

  • The melodious lark (Mirafra cheniana) is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found in southern Africa.

    Melodious lark

  • Later Gopala Dasa inspired the well known woman saint Helavanakatte Giriyamma to compose melodious songs in praise of the Hindu god Vishnu.

    Gopala Dasa

  • Although small in size, this instrument can produce a loud and melodious sound.

    Kuriding

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.