Definitions

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

  • adjective Of or relating to harmony.
  • adjective Pleasing to the ear.
  • adjective Characterized by harmony.
  • adjective Of or relating to harmonics.
  • adjective Integrated in nature.
  • noun Any of a series of musical tones whose frequencies are integral multiples of the frequency of a fundamental tone.
  • noun A tone produced on a stringed instrument by lightly touching an open or stopped vibrating string at a given fraction of its length so that both segments vibrate.
  • noun The theory or study of the physical properties and characteristics of musical sound.
  • noun Physics Any of a series of periodic waves whose frequencies are integral multiples of a fundamental frequency.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In function theory, two pairs of points, one pair the intersections of a circle about with a circle through the other pair.
  • Pertaining or relating to harmony of sounds; of or pertaining to music; in general, concordant; consonant; in music, specifically, pertaining to harmony, as distinguished from melody and rhythm.
  • In acoustics, noting the secondary tones which accompany the primary tone in a complex musical tone. See II., 1.
  • In mathematics, involving or of the nature of the harmonic mean; similar to or constructed upon the principle of the harmonic curve.
  • In anatomy, forming or formed by a harmonia: as, a harmonic articulation or suture.
  • Also harmonical.
  • In music, the analysis of the harmonic structure of a piece.
  • The amplification of a harmonic passage by the introduction of passing-notes, etc.
  • noun In acoustics: A secondary or collateral tone involved in a primary or fundamental tone, and produced by the partial vibration of the body of which the complete vibration gives the primary tone.
  • noun A harmonic tone.

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

  • noun (Mus.) A musical note produced by a number of vibrations which is a multiple of the number producing some other; an overtone. See harmonics.
  • adjective Concordant; musical; consonant.
  • adjective (Mus.) Relating to harmony, -- as melodic relates to melody; harmonious; esp., relating to the accessory sounds or overtones which accompany the predominant and apparent single tone of any string or sonorous body.
  • adjective (Math.) Having relations or properties bearing some resemblance to those of musical consonances; -- said of certain numbers, ratios, proportions, points, lines, motions, and the like.
  • adjective (Mus.) the distance between two notes of a chord, or two consonant notes.
  • adjective (Arith. & Alg.) certain relations of numbers and quantities, which bear an analogy to musical consonances.
  • adjective the motion of the point A, of the foot of the perpendicular PA, when P moves uniformly in the circumference of a circle, and PA is drawn perpendicularly upon a fixed diameter of the circle. This is simple harmonic motion. The combinations, in any way, of two or more simple harmonic motions, make other kinds of harmonic motion. The motion of the pendulum bob of a clock is approximately simple harmonic motion.
  • adjective See under Proportion.
  • adjective See under Progression.
  • adjective a mathematical method, sometimes referred to as that of Laplace's Coefficients, which has for its object the expression of an arbitrary, periodic function of two independent variables, in the proper form for a large class of physical problems, involving arbitrary data, over a spherical surface, and the deduction of solutions for every point of space. The functions employed in this method are called spherical harmonic functions.
  • adjective (Anat.) an articulation by simple apposition of comparatively smooth surfaces or edges, as between the two superior maxillary bones in man; -- called also harmonia, and harmony.
  • adjective (Mus.) the chord of a note with its third and fifth; the common chord.

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

  • adjective pertaining to harmony
  • adjective pleasant to hear; harmonious; melodious
  • adjective mathematics attribute of many mathematical entities that only in few cases are obviously related
  • noun physics a component frequency of the signal of a wave that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency

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

  • adjective relating to vibrations that occur as a result of vibrations in a nearby body
  • adjective of or relating to the branch of acoustics that studies the composition of musical sounds
  • adjective of or relating to harmony as distinct from melody and rhythm
  • noun a tone that is a component of a complex sound
  • noun any of a series of musical tones whose frequencies are integral multiples of the frequency of a fundamental
  • adjective of or relating to harmonics
  • adjective involving or characterized by harmony

Etymologies

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

[Latin harmonicus, from Greek harmonikos, from harmoniā, harmony; see harmony.]

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