lyric means 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. It carries an Arena rating of 1821, earned across 66 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, lyric ranks #176 of 42,752 for Qualifying, #496 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #841 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #924 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
lyric is pronounced /ˈlɪɹɪk/.
Why “lyric” is a great word
Denoting a quality of poetry that expresses the personal, often songlike utterance of a private emotion, its lineage is that of music: from French lyrique, from Latin lyricus, from Ancient Greek λυρικός (lurikós, 'of the lyre'), from λύρα (lúra, 'lyre'); its application to song words is first attested in 1876 in Stainer and Barrett's Dictionary of Musical Terms. Unlike 'epic' (which narrates the public deeds of heroes) or 'prose' (which traffics in the unmetered cadence of everyday thought), lyric is the interior weather—a sudden, melodic front moving through the self. It is the turn of a solitary phrase in a quiet room, the cadence of a heart measuring its own break, the whispered afterimage of a tune only one person can hear; it is the conviction that our most fugitive feelings deserve a form as lasting as a song.
Etymology
From French lyrique, or its source, Latin lyricus, from Ancient Greek λυρικός (lurikós), from λύρα (lúra, “lyre”). Its English equivalent would be lyre + -ic. The original Greek sense of "lyric poetry"—"poetry accompanied by the lyre" i.e. "words set to music"—eventually led to its use as "lyrics", first attested in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Stainer and Barrett used the word as a singular substantive: "Lyric, poetry or blank verse intended to be set to music and sung". By the 1930s, the present use of the plurale tantum "lyrics" had begun; it has been standard since the 1950s for many writers. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song by authorities such as Alec Wilder, Robert Gottlieb, and Stephen Sondheim. However, the sing
adj
- 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.
- Of or relating to a writer of such poetry.
- Lyrical.
- Having a light singing voice of modest range.
- Of or relating to musical drama and opera.
- Melodious.
- Of or relating to the lyre (or sometimes the harp).
name
- A male given name.
- A female given name.
noun
- A lyric poem.
- The words of a song or other vocal music.e.g.“The lyric in line 3 doesn't rhyme.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.