Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use melody in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun

Melody means a sequence of notes that makes up a musical phrase. Example: “Alyssa likes to sing melodies while playing the drums.”

Examples of melody by meaning

nounA sequence of notes that makes up a musical phrase.

  • Alyssa likes to sing melodies while playing the drums.
  • There is a melody upon the Earth as though ten thousand streams all sang together for their homes that they had forsaken in the hills.1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], “The Sayings of Slid (whose Soul is by the Sea)”, in The Gods of Pegāna...
  • The strange elusiveness of the soft, insistent melody seemed to draw her forward.1954, Alexander Alderson, chapter 1, in The Subtle Minotaur

More sentences with melody

  • The melody jumps up an octave at the beginning, then later drops back down an octave.From the entry octave
  • The tuned wind chimes sounded almost like they were playing a melody.From the entry tuned
  • The music box plays a lovely melody.From the entry lovely
  • The choir’s voices blended in a harmonious melody.From the entry harmonious
  • Using this chart, we can create the negative harmonies of any chord or melody.2024 May 27, “What is a negative harmony in music?”, in skᵒₒve: Piano lessons that work (blog), Learnfield GmbH, archived from the…. From the entry negative harmony
  • The Beshtian School, faithful to this concept of song, was characterized primarily by happy-sounding and rhythmic melodies.2017, Velvel Pasternak, Behind the Music, Stories, Anecdotes, Articles and Reflections, page 226. From the entry rhythmic
  • Glasser has a Björkian gift for pairing airy melodies and occasional gale-force belting with polyrhythmic, electronics-dense beats.2010 October 28, Jonah Weiner, “Reviews”, in Rolling Stone, number 1116, page 67. From the entry Björkian
  • The melodies are unaffected, almost stoic; there’s a kind of nonidiomatic breeze blowing through them.2009 July 27, The New York Times, “New CDs”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022. From the entry nonidiomatic
  • Played traditionally, the dulcimer sounds delightful with drones acenting the melody you are playing.2004, Madeline MacNeil, You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer, Mel Bay Publications, →ISBN, Introduction, page 4. From the entry dulcimer
  • Unlike most filmi geets this song is a continuous, seamless melody which dispenses with non-traditional musical devices.2003, Ashraf Aziz, Light of the Universe: Essays on Hindustani Film Music, page 91. From the entry filmi geet
  • Today's legion of neopunk bands play music marked by three chords and simple melodies.1999, Walt Mueller, Understanding Today's Youth Culture, page 118. From the entry neopunk
  • Obviously, extended melodies should end on the strongest and most agogic melodic cadence.1997, David Cope, “Extended Melodic Lines”, in Techniques of the Contemporary Composer, New York, N.Y.: Schirmer Books, →ISBN, chapter 3…. From the entry agogic
  • Contrasting otonality and utonality allows Johnston to mark distinctions between a melody and its inversion.1995, 1/1: The Quarterly Journal of the Just Intonation Network. From the entry utonality
  • The jazzplayer takes the melody, knowing it completely, embellishing at will.1994, Jameson, Richard T, They went thataway : redefining film genres : a National Society of Film Critics video guide, Mercury House…. From the entry jazzplayer
  • I love you like a soft symphony; a melody written in heart and pulse.1986 August 16, “I Love You, Sara K. (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 5, page 13. From the entry declarative
  • This mournful melody from Queensland tells of the woes and misfortunes of early canecutters.1964, Favourite Australian Bush Songs, page 137. From the entry canecutter
  • Pure fanfared melodies also occur, as we have seen, in rural Annam and in Cambodia.1954, Egon Wellesz, New Oxford History of Music: Ancient and oriental music, page 188. From the entry fanfared
  • A melody and the counter melody to it should sound well as a duet without accompaniment.1948, Roy M. Miller, Practical Instrumentation for the Wind Band, page 29. From the entry counter melody
  • But at the core all his music is melodic and melody is its main motive force.1929, Arthur Lourié, “An Inquiry into Melody”, in Modern Music, volume VII, number 1, page 10. From the entry motive
  • Are tears to thee so dear, And sighs such soothesome melody?1905, The Metaphysical Magazine - Volume 16. From the entry soothesome
  • The song ended, but the melody lingered.2025, Ashok Kumar Bal, A Various World: People, Places, Perspectives. From the entry rasagola
  • After a flamboyant snare drum roll intro, the catchy plinky-plonky piano melody is joined by lolloping xylophone and flutes.2016 October 31, Neil McKim, “80 Years of TV theme tunes”, in BBC Music Magazine. From the entry lollop
  • Students and the instructor sing the harmony line while the instructor plays the melody line on the piano.2015, Mícheál Houlahan, Philip Tacka, Kodály in the Third Grade Classroom. From the entry line
  • When Leo is happy, he bursts out in riffs of scat singing, making up little melodies as he goes.2015, Steve Silberman, chapter 2, in Megan Newman, editor, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, New York…. From the entry keening
  • Magically, that melody worked with this track we were doing."2014, Emily Herbert, Bruno Mars, Omnibus Press. From the entry Silent Bob
  • Full-bodied tribal rhythms, weird bendy bass lines, screechy high-end guitar melodies, and more psychotic lyrics about "Tension," "Butchers," and "Madness."2012, Jodi.C.King, I Was a Killing Joke: A Bird's Eye View. From the entry psychotic
  • Music Content: highly florid and mellismatic melodies; background instrumental riffs and chordal harmonies; limited instrumental solos or instrumental features.2012, Lenard C. Bowie, African American Musical Heritage, →ISBN. From the entry mellismatic
  • Melody tried to imagine her exfriend snooping through her phone.2011, Lisi Harrison, Monster High 2: The Ghoul Next Door. From the entry ex-friend
  • Sometimes Charlie would sing notes that were more tenor than original melody, forcing Bill to sing a high baritone-style line.2009, Richard Smith, Can't You Hear Me Calling: The Life of Bill Monroe, Father of Bluegrass, Da Capo Press, →ISBN. From the entry tenor
  • Anther track, Clouds Collapse, is the albums brief textural diversion; it pings a gamelanlike melody amid feedback and distortion.2007 December 31, The New York Times, “New CDs”, in New York Times. From the entry gamelanlike
  • A quiet, largely acoustic CD with beautiful melodies and captivating rhythms that starts with nyatiti, praise songs and local rhythms.1999, Simon Broughton et al., Rough Guide to World Music, page 522. From the entry nyatiti
  • I need another player to put a Greek melody over the top, perhaps a rebetiko of some sort.1994, Louis de Bernières, Captain Corelli's Mandolin. From the entry rebetiko
  • You see, anything away from the melody.1990, The Devil’s Box, Madison, Ala.: Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers’ Association, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 27. From the entry hokum
  • Then there's after-dinner dancing — useful for burning off the calories — to a group that plays eminently danceable, nondisco melodies.1988, Robert W. Tolf, Russell Buchan, Florida, a guide to the best restaurants, resorts, and hotels, page 126. From the entry nondisco
  • When outsiders heard the melodies of Johann Sebastian Bach in a single-voice, monophonic square wave, no harmony, they were universally unfazed.1984, Steven Levy, chapter 1, in Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. From the entry unfazed
  • Alix has a consistent style but she's a fantastic writer of melodies, and every tune stands on its own.1981 February 14, Maida Tilchen, “Alix Living With Contradictions”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 29, page 18. From the entry singable
  • The singer prepares his tone and rhythm on the barbitos before he adds his voice to the melody.1974, Davenport, Tatlin!. From the entry barbitos

Meaning of melody

  1. noun A sequence of notes that makes up a musical phrase.

Full definition of melody

Questions about melody in a sentence

How do you use melody in a sentence?
Melody is used as a noun. For example: “Alyssa likes to sing melodies while playing the drums.”
What is a short sentence with melody?
“The music box plays a lovely melody.”
What does melody mean?
Melody means a sequence of notes that makes up a musical phrase.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: melody (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.

Last updated:

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