melodicadj.
/mᵻˈlɒdɪk/, U.S. /məˈlɑdɪk/ 1.
a. Of or relating to melody (esp. as distinguished from harmony). Cf. melody n. 4, harmony n. 5.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > melody or succession of sounds > [adjective]
melodial?1590
systaltic1694
melodic1823
horizontal1886
linear1944
1823 New Monthly Mag. 8 132 We should not..hesitate to risk a comparison between the best Greek melodic concert, and the melharmonic strains and combinations of a modern performance.
1854 G. W. Röhner Pract. Treat. Mus. Composition iii. 197 Unrestricted Canon is founded upon a melodic subject.
1872 H. Spencer Princ. Psychol. (ed. 2) II. viii. ix. 641 The melodic element in music.
1898 J. Stainer Stainer & Barrett's Dict. Musical Terms (rev. ed.) 437/1 The question of melodic progressions, as affecting the excellence of temperaments, is too extensive for our limits.
1932 J. Yasser Theory of Evolving Tonality 375 Tonality, a principle which organically and tonocentrically unites the function of a certain number of systematically arranged sounds..in their melodic and harmonic aspects.
1934 C. Lambert Music Ho! iii. 198 The melodic shape is clearly the most important factor in pre-jazz popular music.
1955 Times 4 Aug. 10/5 What matter that the melodic line is as seductively curved as that of any of the great operatic romanticists of the near past?
1991 Musical Q. Fall 292 Some new elements are added,..including one entirely new melodic turn with a concomitant change of key to the relative major.
b. Designating a version of the minor diatonic scale containing a major sixth and seventh when ascending, and a minor sixth and seventh when descending. Cf. harmonic adj. 4a.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > pitch > system of sounds or intervals > [adjective] > other scales
chromatic1603
octachordala1661
octachord1761
hendecachordal1842
tritonous1847
pentatonic1864
pentaphonic1881
melodic1889
heptatonic1890
gapped1910
twelve-tone1926
twelve-note1928
hexatonic1930
octatonic1963
1889 E. Prout Harmony (ed. 3) vii. 76 This form is known as the Harmonic Minor Scale, the other two being known as Melodic Minor Scales.
1959 J. A. Westrup & F. L. Harrison Collins Mus. Encycl. 575/2 The melodic minor scale, in which the ascending and descending forms differ.
1983 New Oxf. Compan. Music II. 1620/2 The minor scale exists in several forms: the natural minor; the harmonic minor,..and the melodic minor.
1999 Britannica Online (Version 99.1) at Diatonic The ‘harmonic’ minor that results is, strictly speaking, no longer a diatonic scale, unlike [the] ‘melodic’ minor, which simply borrows its upper tetrachord from the parallel major.
2. Of a piece of music, a musical style, etc.: characterized by a strong melody; melodious, tuneful. Also (in extended use): pleasing to the senses, charming in the manner of a melody.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > [adjective] > melodious or harmonious
sweetc900
merryOE
softc1230
accordanta1325
well-soundingc1350
cordant1382
sootc1385
songfula1400
melodiousa1425
sugaredc1430
well-toneda1500
tunable1504
dulcea1513
equivalenta1513
consonant?1521
harmonicala1527
harmoniousc1550
consorteda1586
Orphean1593
concentful1595
melodical1596
sweet-recording1598
tuneful1598
sirenical1599
high-tuned1603
nightingale-like1611
soundful?1615
according1626
modulaminous1637
undiscording1645
canorous1646
symphonious1652
concinnous1654
consonous1654
harmonic1667
sirenica1704
symphonial1773
concentual1782
chantant1785
Memnonian1800
melodized1807
Orphic1817
undiscordant1819
concentuous1850
fluting1852
melodic1871
well-orchestrated1872
jarless1876
tuny1885
tunesome1890
1871 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch (1872) I. xi. 162 Plain women he regarded as he did the other severe facts of life, to be faced with philosophy and investigated by science. But Rosamond Vincy seemed to have the true melodic charm.
1915 Mod. Lang. Notes 30 235/2 The presence of these factors gives a distinctly melodic effect that is often pleasing to the ear.
1954 Ballet Ann. 8 65 The ballerina is able to assume..a manner of walking which is æsthetically satisfying... Her very walk is ‘melodic’.
1961 A. Hopkins Talking about Symphonies i. 23 Slow movements are normally easy to listen to, being more openly melodic than any other part of a symphony.
1999 Sunday Tel. 8 Aug. (Review section) 3/2 Our mother-tongue..can turn the simplest grammatical construct..into a melodic line that skips like an Irish hornpipe.
3. Designating an instrument that is used to play the melody in a musical composition; (chiefly spec.) denoting an instrument that does not play chords.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > [adjective] > other attributes
rural1592
unstringed1597
unstrung1598
keyed1761
fingerable1818
keyless1830
omnitonic1861
solo1862
sewing machine1874
unplayed1875
original1899
electrified1938
melodic1938
analogue1976
acoustic1978
1938 Oxf. Compan. Music 287/2 The instrument known as Ondes Musicales..is purely melodic.
1961 C. W. Monk in A. C. Baines Musical Instruments through Ages xi. 277 Some examples of the Danish Bronze Age lurs, cast in the shape of a mammoth tusk, have mouthpieces astonishingly like modern melodic brass instruments.
1982 G. Jacob Orchestral Technique (ed. 3) 23 The natural function of the bassoon is to provide the bass of the woodwind group, but it is frequently used as a melodic instrument.
1992 T. Portsmouth et al. In Tune with Heaven 151 Single note or melodic instruments.
Compounds
melodic-rhythmic adj.
ΚΠ
1946 R. Blesh Shining Trumpets i. 9 A melodic-rhythmic counterpoint unknown in European music.
1984 New Grove Dict. Music XII. 121/2 The prolonged struggle between these two basically antagonistic melodic-rhythmic orientations was stalemated throughout much of the 17th century.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1823