Link Centre Dictionary

lyric

ly·ric

UK/ˈlɪɹɪk/ US/ˈlɪrɪk/ uncommon
noun (2) adjective (4) verb (1)

noun

1.

the text of a popular song or musical-comedy number

  • “his compositions always started with the lyrics”
  • “he wrote both words and music”
  • “the song uses colloquial language”
Synonyms
2.

adjective

1.

expressing deep personal emotion

  • “the dancer”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

used of a singer or singing voice that is light in volume and modest in range

  • “a lyric soprano”
Antonyms
3.

relating to or being musical drama

  • “the lyric stage”
4.

of or relating to a category of poetry that expresses emotion (often in a songlike way)

  • “lyric poetry”

verb

1.

write lyrics for (a song)

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • lyric opera
  • lyric poetry
  • lyric soprano
  • lyric video

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Pertaining to

Parts

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.