canorous means melodious. It carries an Arena rating of 2004, earned across 12 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, canorous ranks #4,012 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #4,283 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #6,089 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #6,372 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
Why “canorous” is a great word
Melodious, resonant, and pleasant-sounding in a rich, song-like way. From Latin canōrus ("melodious, resonant"), from canor ("melody, song"), from canere ("to sing"). Unlike harsh, which denotes sounds that are grating and unmusical, or euphonic, which speaks to general sonic pleasantness, canorous evokes a specific, resonant depth. It is the rounded, wood-warm tone of a cello in a quiet hall, the clear, liquid peal of a bell carried over still water, or the full-throated chant of monks in a vaulted stone cloister—the kind of sound that does not merely strike the ear, but settles in the bones, as if the air itself has learned to sing.
Etymology
From Latin canōrus.
adj
- melodiouse.g.“Unfortunately Watt was thinking of birds at the time, their missile flights, their canorous reloadings.” — 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:
- resonant
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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