Definition of 'music'
1. uncountable noun
Music is the pattern of sounds produced by people singing or playing instruments.
4. See also sheet music
5.
6.
See face the music
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
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Word Frequency
music in British English
noun
1.
an art form consisting of sequences of sounds in time, esp tones of definite pitch organized melodically, harmonically, rhythmically and according to tone colour
2.
such an art form characteristic of a particular people, culture, or tradition
Indian music
rock music
baroque music
3.
the sounds so produced, esp by singing or musical instruments
4.
written or printed music, such as a score or set of parts
5.
any sequence of sounds perceived as pleasing or harmonious
7. See face the music
8. See music to one's ears
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Word origin
C13: via Old French from Latin mūsica, from Greek mousikē (tekhnē) (art) belonging to the Muses, from Mousa MuseWord Frequency
music in American English
noun
1.
the art and science of combining vocal or instrumental sounds or tones in varying melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre, esp. so as to form structurally complete and emotionally expressive compositions
2.
the sounds or tones so arranged, or the arrangement of these
3.
any rhythmic sequence of pleasing sounds, as of birds, water, etc.
4.
a.
a particular form, style, etc. of musical composition or a particular class of musical
works or pieces
folk music
b.
the body of musical works of a particular style, place, period, or composer
5.
the written or printed score of a musical composition
7. Rare
a group of musical performers
Idioms:
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Word origin
ME musike < OFr musique < L musica < Gr mousikē (technē), musical (art), orig. an art of the Muses < mousa, MuseWord Frequency
music in American English
(ˈmjuːzɪk)
noun
1.
an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color
2.
the tones or sounds employed, occurring in single line (melody) or multiple lines
(harmony), and sounded or to be sounded by one or more voices or instruments, or both
3.
musical work or compositions for singing or playing
4.
the written or printed score of a musical composition
5.
such scores collectively
6.
any sweet, pleasing, or harmonious sounds or sound
the music of the waves
9. See face the music
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Derived forms
musicless adjective
Word origin
[1200–50; ME musike ‹ L mūsica ‹ Gk mousike᷅ (téchnē) (the art) of the Muse, fem. of mousikós, equiv. to Moûs(a) muse + -ikos -ic]Examples of 'music' in a sentence
music
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Quotations
Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty
Bach gave us God's word
Mozart gave us God's laughter
Beethoven gave us God's fire
God gave us music that we might pray without words from a German Opera House poster
Mozart gave us God's laughter
Beethoven gave us God's fire
God gave us music that we might pray without words from a German Opera House poster
It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness and of pain: of strength and freedom. The beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature, and everlasting beauty of monotonyletter
Such sweet compulsion doth in music lieArcades
The greatest moments of the human spirit may be deduced from the greatest moments in musicMusic as an Aspect of the Human Spirit
My music is best understood by children and animals
When I get those really intense moments it doesn't feel like it's the violin that's giving them to me, it's like I'm in touch with some realm of consciousness which is much bigger than I am ... It's the music which takes over
Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn
Music is feeling, then, not soundPeter Quince at the Clavier
Music is spiritual. The music business is not
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of itTwelfth Night
Give me excess of itTwelfth Night
Without music life would be a mistakeThe Twilight of the Idols
I have been told that Wagner's music is better than it sounds
A musicologist is a man who can read music but can't hear it
Music is essentially useless, as life isLittle Essays
Music is a memory bank for finding one's way about the worldThe Songlines
Music is the healing force of the universe
The English may not like music but they absolutely love the noise it makes
Classic music is th'kind that we keep thinkin'll turn into a tuneComments of Abe Martin and His Neighbours
There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between
too much counterpoint; what is worse, Protestant counterpoint
fiddle: an instrument to tickle human ears by friction of a horse's tail on the entrails of a catThe Devil's Dictionary
Some say, that Signor Bononcini,
Compared to Handel's a mere ninny;
Others aver, that to him Handel
Is scarcely fit to hold a candle.
Strange! that such high dispute should be
'Twixt Tweedledum and TweedledeeOn the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini
Compared to Handel's a mere ninny;
Others aver, that to him Handel
Is scarcely fit to hold a candle.
Strange! that such high dispute should be
'Twixt Tweedledum and TweedledeeOn the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini
If the music doesn't say it, how can the words say it for the music?
Extraordinary how potent cheap music isPrivate Lives
opera: a play representing life in another world, whose inhabitants have no speech
but song, no motions but gestures and no postures but attitudesThe Devil's Dictionary
What passion cannot music raise and quell?A Song for St. Cecilia's Day
piano: a parlor utensil for subduing the impenitent visitor. It is operated by depressing the keys of the machine and the spirits of the audienceThe Devil's Dictionary
an exotic and irrational entertainment
Music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance... poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from musicThe ABC of Reading
[Rock music] is still only certain elements in the blues isolated, coarsened and amplified. It may affect audiences more strongly but this is only to say that home-distilled
hooch is more affecting than château-bottled claret, or a punch on the nose than a reasoned refutation under nineteen headings
In memory everything seems to happen to musicThe Glass Menagerie
You don't need any brains to listen to music
Trends of
music
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Source: Google Books Ngram Viewer
In other languages
music
British English: music
/ˈmjuːzɪk/ NOUN
Music is the pattern of sounds produced by people singing or playing instruments.
...classical music.
- American English: music /myˈuzɪk/
- Arabic: مُوسِيقَى
- Brazilian Portuguese: música
- Chinese: 音乐
- Croatian: glazba
- Czech: hudba
- Danish: musik
- Dutch: muziek
- European Spanish: música
- Finnish: musiikki
- French: musique
- German: Musik
- Greek: μουσική
- Italian: musica
- Japanese: 音楽
- Korean: 음악
- Norwegian: musikk
- Polish: muzyka
- European Portuguese: música
- Romanian: muzică
- Russian: музыка
- Latin American Spanish: música sonido grato al oído
- Swedish: musik
- Thai: ดนตรี
- Turkish: müzik
- Ukrainian: музика
- Vietnamese: âm nhạc
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music
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Definition of music from the Collins English Dictionary
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