Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use lilt in a sentence

13 example sentences · verb, noun

Lilt means to do something rhythmically, with animation and quickness, usually of music. Example: “The two works have the attractive lilt of Middle English, with all the remedies for bites of serpents and cures for eye troubles of the day.”

Examples of lilt by meaning

nounA cheerful or melodious accent or style in speaking.

  • The two works have the attractive lilt of Middle English, with all the remedies for bites of serpents and cures for eye troubles of the day.1978, Keith Vincent Smith, The Illustrated Earth Garden Herbal, Melbourne: Thomas Nelson Australia, page 23, column 2
  • Though Bane’s sing-song voice gives his pronouncements a funny lilt, he doesn’t have any of the Joker’s deranged wit, and Nolan isn’t interested in undercutting his seriousness for the sake of a breezier entertainment.July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club, The Dark Knight Rises (review)

More sentences with lilt

  • “No need fer that at all, boyo!” he said, in a pleasant Welsh borders lilt.2001, Julian Stockwin, Kydd: A Novel, →ISBN, page 232. From the entry nuggety
  • The formel's voice lilted, drifting in and out of his thoughts."1987, Meredith Ann Pierce, Birth of the Firebringer, page 39. From the entry formel
  • She looked all in, no doubt of that, but the lilt was there.1955, Rex Stout, “The Next Witness”, in Three Witnesses, Bantam edition, Viking Press, published Oct 1994, →ISBN, page 51. From the entry all in
  • Guitars riffle precise chords and lilt through arpeggios, keyboards go boop, and every flick of a drumbeat is in place.2008 January 28, Jon Pareles, Nate Chinen, Kelefa Sanneh, Ben Ratliff, Ben Allison, “New CDs”, in New York Times. From the entry boop
  • My bold, Crocodile Hunter “Absolutely” withered into “mkay” with the end of the word lilted up like a desperate question.2004, Gordon Atkinson, RealLivePreacher.com…. From the entry m'kay
  • “De-ear woman, give me something for a ro-oll, at least,” lilted an elderly beggarwoman, holding out an empty tin can.1998, Yevhenia Kononenko, translated by Marco Carynnyk and Marta Horban, “An Elegy about Old Age”, in Janice Kulyk Keefer, Solomea…. From the entry kopiika
  • “Holding your pencil just right, sit straight but not tight, and you’ll be ready to write,” the voice sings in a Mary Poppinsesque lilt.2003 March 26, Darryl E. Owens, “Cursive”, in Orlando Sentinel, page E3, column 4. From the entry Mary Poppinsesque
  • How he hated and how he loved the lilt in her voice, the bounce in her step, the serenity of her amour propre!2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections. From the entry amour propre
  • Against the window her lips press a row of breathful O's until, due to both a quick and vengeful draft, her candle's flame lilts, disappears.1980, Dennis Shramek, Sly Ohio, page 21. From the entry breathful
  • There she was at last—taller, lissomer than ever, her green bag swinging in her hand and a gay lilt of a tune on her lips.1900, S[amuel] R[utherford] Crockett, “Carnation’s Morning Joy”, in The Stickit Minister’s Wooing, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday & McClure…. From the entry lissom
  • Either the celebrated lilt of her voice was born in, or she had used it so much and so long that it might as well have been.1955, Rex Stout, “The Next Witness”, in Three Witnesses, Bantam edition, Viking Press, published Oct 1994, →ISBN, page 51. From the entry all in

Meaning of lilt

  1. verb To do something rhythmically, with animation and quickness, usually of music.
  2. verb To sing cheerfully, especially in Gaelic.
  3. verb To utter with spirit, animation, or gaiety; to sing with spirit and liveliness.

Full definition of lilt

Questions about lilt in a sentence

How do you use lilt in a sentence?
Lilt is used as a verb and noun. For example: “The two works have the attractive lilt of Middle English, with all the remedies for bites of serpents and cures for eye troubles of the day.”
What is a short sentence with lilt?
“The formel's voice lilted, drifting in and out of his thoughts."”
What does lilt mean?
Lilt means to do something rhythmically, with animation and quickness, usually of music.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lilt (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use lilt in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/lilt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.