Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to a category of poetry that expresses subjective thoughts and feelings, often in a songlike style or form.
  • adjective Relating to or constituting a poem in this category, such as a sonnet or ode.
  • adjective Of or relating to a writer of poems in this category.
  • adjective Lyrical.
  • adjective Having a singing voice of light volume and modest range.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or being musical drama, especially opera.
  • adjective Having a pleasing succession of sounds; melodious.
  • adjective Of or relating to the lyre or harp.
  • adjective Appropriate for accompaniment by the lyre.
  • noun A lyric poem.
  • noun Music The words of a song.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To sing in a lyrical way.
  • Pertaining or adapted to the lyre or harp; fit to be sung to an accompaniment; hence, pertaining to or characteristic of song; suggestive of music or song.
  • Writing for or as if for the lyre, or with musical effect; composing songs, or poems of a song-like character: as, a lyric poet.
  • noun A composer of lyric poems.
  • noun A lyric composition or poem.
  • noun A verse of the kind commonly used in lyric poetry.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to a lyre or harp.
  • adjective Fitted to be sung to the lyre
  • adjective expressing deep personal emotion; -- said especially of poetry which expresses the individual emotions of the poet.
  • noun A lyric poem; a lyrical composition.
  • noun rare A composer of lyric poems.
  • noun A verse of the kind usually employed in lyric poetry; -- used chiefly in the plural.
  • noun The words of a song.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective poetry Of, or relating to a type of poetry (such as a sonnet or ode) that expresses subjective thoughts and feelings, often in a songlike style
  • adjective Of, or relating to a writer of such poetry
  • adjective lyrical
  • adjective Having a light singing voice of modest range
  • adjective Of, or relating to musical drama and opera
  • adjective melodious
  • adjective Of, or relating to the lyre (or sometimes the harp)
  • noun A lyric poem.
  • noun also in plural The words of a song or other vocal music. The singular form often refers to a part of the words, whereas the plural form can refer to all of the words.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a short poem of songlike quality
  • adjective expressing deep emotion
  • noun the text of a popular song or musical-comedy number
  • adjective of or relating to a category of poetry that expresses emotion (often in a songlike way)
  • adjective used of a singer or singing voice that is light in volume and modest in range
  • adjective relating to or being musical drama
  • verb write lyrics for (a song)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French lyrique, of a lyre, from Old French, from Latin lyricus, from Greek lurikos, from lura, lyre.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French lyrique, or its source, Latin lyricus, from Ancient Greek λυρικός, from λύρα ("lyre").

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Examples

  • Each time she sang the title lyric, Zachy belted out "YES!"

    I Just Called to Say, Ahem, I, Uhh, Love You Elizabeth Bernstein 2011

  • I have not interpreted the term lyric so rigidly as to exclude sonnets, ballads, elegiac verse, or even pieces of almost pure description.

    The Golden Treasury of American Songs and Lyrics Various

  • Set opener "Comin 'Home" instantaneously grabbed the attention of the audience, as Green and his electric guitar eased gently into a warmingly bluesy repetition of the title lyric

    PlugInMusic.com 2010

  • Set opener "Comin 'Home" instantaneously grabbed the attention of the audience, as Green and his electric guitar eased gently into a warmingly bluesy repetition of the title lyric

    PlugInMusic.com 2010

  • "Dear God, I hate myself" - the title lyric of the title track of

    Chicago Reader 2010

  • "Blame It On the Girls," he divided the audience in half, one group singing the title lyric and the other chanting "Blame In On the Boys."

    unknown title 2009

  • Jim Croce played Lothario in the title lyric to "Time In a Bottle," only to be misheard as the far less romantic "Mime in a brothel."

    Expecting Rain 2008

  • Part-time Encinitas resident, the late George Harrison, had his title lyric to Got My Mind Set On You misheard as "Oh God, my mom sat on you."

    Expecting Rain 2008

  • The title lyric itself was misheard as "use your imagination."

    Expecting Rain 2008

  • But since it is most commonly found by itself in short poems which we call lyric, we may say that the characteristic of the lyric is that it is the product of the pure poetic energy unassociated with other energies, and that lyric and poetry are synonymous terms.

    The Lyric An Essay John Drinkwater 1909

Comments

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  • something about this word i like... can't place it...

    May 2, 2008

  • it's lyrical

    September 19, 2009