lyric
n. · adj.-
1 song words (n.) B1 Intermediate Musicthe words of a song.
the words of a song or other vocal musical composition; usually used in the plural.
ExampleI can never remember the lyrics to this song, even though I've heard it many times.
ExampleThe songwriter spent weeks refining the lyrics to ensure the emotional resonance of the chorus matched the complexity of the melody.
PitfallI like the lyric of this song.I like the lyrics of this song.When talking about the words of a song, use the plural form 'lyrics'.
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2 a type of poem (n.) B2 Upper Intermediate Academica short poem that expresses the personal feelings of the writer.
a poem that expresses the writer's emotions, usually briefly and in stanzas or recognized forms like sonnets.
ExampleThe poet wrote a beautiful lyric about his childhood home.
ExampleThe anthology focuses on the nineteenth-century lyric, highlighting how personal grief was transformed into universal art through structured verse.
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3 expressing feelings (adj.) B2 Upper Intermediate Academicrelating to poetry or music that expresses personal emotions in a song-like way.
relating to poetry that expresses subjective thoughts and feelings, often characterized by a melodic or rhythmic quality.
ExampleShe has a very lyric style of writing that focuses on her inner thoughts.
ExampleThe author's lyric prose elevates the memoir, turning a simple sequence of events into a profound meditation on memory and loss.
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4 voice type (adj.) C1 Advanced Technical Musichaving a light and clear singing voice.
denoting a singing voice of light quality and modest range, especially in opera.
ExampleThe young singer is a lyric soprano with a very bright tone.
ExampleThe role requires a lyric tenor capable of navigating the delicate upper register without sacrificing the clarity of the Italian vowels.
- melodious
- sweet
From French lyrique, or its source, Latin lyricus, from Ancient Greek λυρικός (lurikós), from λύρα (lúra, “lyre”). Its English equivalent would be lyre + -ic. The original Greek sense of "lyric poetry"—"poetry accompanied by the lyre" i.e. "words set to music"—eventually led to its use as "lyrics", first attested in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Stainer and Barrett used the word as a singular substantive: "Lyric, poetry or blank verse intended to be set to music and sung". By the 1930s, the present use of the plurale tantum "lyrics" had begun; it has been standard since the 1950s for many writers. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song by authorities such as Alec Wilder, Robert Gottlieb, and Stephen Sondheim. However, the singular form is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics.