Definitions

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

  • adjective Of, relating to, or incorporating counterpoint.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In music, pertaining to counterpoint, or in accordance with its rules; having an independent motion of the voice-parts.

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

  • adjective (Mus.) Pertaining to, or according to the rules of, counterpoint.

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

  • adjective music Of or relating to counterpoint.

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

  • adjective having two or more independent but harmonically related melodic parts sounding together
  • adjective relating to or characteristic of or according to the rules of counterpoint

Etymologies

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

[From obsolete Italian contrapunto, counterpoint : Italian contra-, against (from Latin contrā-; see contra–) + Italian punto, point, note (from Vulgar Latin *punctum, from Latin pūnctum; see punctual).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin punctus contra punctum (“note against note”)

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Examples

  • Music written entirely by the rules of counterpoint is called contrapuntal music; that written otherwise is known as free harmonic music.

    Music Talks with Children Thomas Tapper

  • It will pass to the subsequent _Figures of Earth_ and, after showing how the greater gravity of this volume is accompanied by a greater profusion of poetry _per se_ it will unravel the scheme of Cabell's fifteen essays in what might be called contrapuntal prose.

    Gallantry Dizain des Fetes Galantes James Branch Cabell 1918

  • Even if I have different objects interwoven or crosscutting one another or in a certain kind of contrapuntal configuration, the clarity is really important to me.

    NewMusicBox 2010

  • Grodecki, who sometimes wore her Roland keyboard around her neck, played a few contrapuntal synth riffs, but they weren't integral to the sound.

    In concert: Vanity Theft at U Street Music Hall Mark Jenkins 2011

  • Grodecki, who sometimes wore her Roland keyboard around her neck, played a few contrapuntal synth riffs, but they weren't integral to the sound.

    Concert review: Vanity Theft at U Street Music Hall robs punk of its spirit Mark Jenkins 2011

  • Much of this involved hairline gradations of delay: lagging one contrapuntal strand just behind the others to draw the ear to it, shaping a lyrical line with slightly sticky rubato to encourage the brain to fill in the decay.

    Authentication keys Matthew Guerrieri 2009

  • Foss, though, would go through and say no, this note should be up an octave, you need to clean up the voice leading from this harmony to this harmony, this chord should come a beat later, you should separate these contrapuntal lines into separate octaves, etc., etc.

    Archive 2009-02-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2009

  • Written at a time when busily contrapuntal late-baroque composition was giving way to the pared-down elegance of the emergent Classical style, Gretry's opera-comique occupies an intriguing middle ground.

    Music review: Opera Lafayette's 'Le Magnifique' Joe Banno 2011

  • Foss, though, would go through and say no, this note should be up an octave, you need to clean up the voice leading from this harmony to this harmony, this chord should come a beat later, you should separate these contrapuntal lines into separate octaves, etc., etc.

    Composer's Holiday Matthew Guerrieri 2009

  • Much of this involved hairline gradations of delay: lagging one contrapuntal strand just behind the others to draw the ear to it, shaping a lyrical line with slightly sticky rubato to encourage the brain to fill in the decay.

    Archive 2009-06-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2009

Comments

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  • The Renaissance Latin noun is "contrapunctus", but the OED does not recognize "contrapunctal" as an alternative spelling.

    August 26, 2008