Word.ws English Dictionary

mellifluous

/məˈlɪflu.əs/

mellifluous adjective: flowing like honey.

Adjective

mellifluous (comparative more mellifluous, superlative most mellifluous)

  1. Flowing like honey.
    • Though in heaven the trees / Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines / Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each morn / VVe brush mellifluous devvs, and find the ground / Cover'd vvith pearly grain[…]1671, John Milton, “(please specify the page)”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC
  2. (figuratively) Sweet, smooth and musical; pleasant to hear (generally used of a person's voice, tone or writing style).
    • […] Socrates […] VVisest of men; from vvhose mouth issued forth / Mellifluous streams that vvater'd all the schools / Of Academicks old and nevv […]1671, John Milton, “(please specify the page)”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC
    • Join'd to Theſe [birds], / Thouſands beſide, thick as the covering Leaves / VVhich ſpeck them o'er, their Modulations mix / Mellifluous.1728, [James] Thomson, Spring. A Poem, […] A[ndrew] Millar, […]; and G[eorge] Strahan, […], →OCLC, pages 30–31

mellifluous meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

mellifluous in Tamil

தேனொழுகும், இனிக்கும், தித்திக்கும், மதுர, செவிக்கினிய

mellifluous in Urdu

خوش آہنگ, شہد سے بھر پور

mellifluous in Bengali

মধুর ও শ্রুতিমধুর

mellifluous in Malayalam

dulcet, sweet-sounding, honeyed
തേനോലുന്ന, തേനൊഴുകുന്ന, തേനൂറുന്ന, മധുരമായ, സുസ്വരമായ, ശ്രുതിമധുരമായ
More languagesFewer languages
mellifluous in Kannada
ಇಂಪಾದ, ಮಧುರವಾದ
mellifluous in Assamese
শুৱলা xuola

Examples of mellifluous in a sentence

  • Certainly, he [Richard Ashcroft] returns explicitly to the sound of Urban Hymns on his fourth solo album: neat, sad strings, unhurried percussion and his mellifluous foghorn of a voice.2016 May 19, Rachel Aroesti, “Richard Ashcroft: These People review”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News &...
  • His [Roy Orbison's] iconic look, mellifluous croon and timeless songwriting means that he retains a strong fanbase.2017 October 20, Ben Beaumont-Thomas, “In dreams: Roy Orbison hologram to embark on UK tour in 2018”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The...
  • Radio proved a perfect fit for the mellifluous tones of Mr.2022 July 12, Simon Montlake, “In Jan. 6 spotlight, Mike Pence navigates a tricky post-Trump path”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

Synonyms of mellifluous

Forms of mellifluous

comparativemore mellifluous
superlativemost mellifluous

Origin of mellifluous

From Middle English mellifluous, mellyfluous, from Latin mellifluus (“flowing like honey”) + -ous, from mel (“honey”) + fluō (“flow”). Compare superfluous and fluid, from same root, and with dulcet (“sweet speech”), alternative Latinate term with a similar meaning.

Words formed from mellifluous

Questions about mellifluous

What does mellifluous mean?
Mellifluous means flowing like honey.
What is mellifluous in Tamil?
Mellifluous in Tamil is தேனொழுகும், இனிக்கும், தித்திக்கும். See Mellifluous meaning in Tamil.
How do you use mellifluous in a sentence?
Certainly, he [Richard Ashcroft] returns explicitly to the sound of Urban Hymns on his fourth solo album: neat, sad strings, unhurried percussion and his mellifluous foghorn of a voice.
What part of speech is mellifluous?
Mellifluous is an adjective.
How do you pronounce mellifluous?
Mellifluous is pronounced /məˈlɪflu.əs/ (US).

Words near mellifluous in the dictionary

  1. mellifies
  2. mellifluence
  3. mellifluences
  4. mellifluent
  5. mellifluently
  6. mellifluous
  7. mellifluously
  8. mellifluousness
  9. mellifluousnesses
  10. mellifulous
  11. mellify

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mellifluous (page history and authors); mellifluous (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mellifluous (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mellifluous (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mellifluous (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); mellifluous (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); শুৱলা (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “mellifluous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mellifluous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.