lyrical
adjective
Chris WileyNola OjomuStephen M. DeusnerMargaret Coble
Shena Mackay
Therese Sutherland
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To the ancient Greeks, anything lyrikos was appropriate to the lyre. That elegant stringed instrument was highly regarded by the Greeks and was used to accompany intensely personal poetry that revealed the thoughts and feelings of the poet. When the adjective lyric, a descendant of lyrikos, was adopted into English in the mid-late 1500s, it too referred to things pertaining or adapted to the lyre. It initially described poets, emotionally expressive poetic forms (such as elegies, odes, or sonnets), or works meant to be sung. Two lexical developments came soon after: lyric gained noun use as a term for a lyric composition or poem, and lyrical was adopted as an alternate adjective form. Lyrical is now the more common adjective; it’s used broadly to describe writing or other creative works that have an artistically beautiful or expressive quality. Meanwhile, in modern use lyric is most familiar in its plural noun form—a song's lyrics are its words. In other uses lyric is a technical term limited mostly to poetry (a lyric poet writes lyric poems, i.e., poems that express direct emotion) and opera (many opera companies use the word in their names, and a lyric soprano has a light voice and melodic style).
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Examples of lyrical in a Sentence
Demicia Inman, VIBE.com, 5 Nov. 2024
With an uncanny ability to write 3-minute radio songs with occasional striking moments of lyrical depth, Petty made more hits than misses in the first two decades of his career.
—Al Shipley, SPIN, 1 Nov. 2024
These works are prime examples of his lyrical storytelling.
—Christian K. Kleinbub, ARTnews.com, 29 Oct. 2024
It’s driven by a bizarre lyrical metaphor that only Lady Gaga could come up with: what if the Old Testament God’s destruction of the Tower of Babel created modern celebrity gossip culture??
—Kristen S. Hé, Vulture, 25 Oct. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Lyrical.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lyrical. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.
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