melody

Definition

A sequence of notes that makes up a musical phrase.

Etymology

From Middle English melodie, melodye, from Old French melodie, from Latin melodia, from Ancient Greek μελῳδίᾱ (melōidíā, “singing, chanting”), from μέλος (mélos, “musical phrase”) + ἀοιδή (aoidḗ, “song”), contracted form ᾠδή (ōidḗ).

Example Sentences

• "Alyssa likes to sing melodies while playing the drums."
• "There is a melody upon the Earth as though ten thousand streams all sang together for their homes that they had forsaken in the hills."
• "Slowly she turned round and faced towards a neat white bungalow, set some way back from the path behind a low hedge of golden privet. No light showed, but someone there was playing the piano. The strange elusiveness of the soft, insistent melody seemed to draw her forward."

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