This is not a glossary, some of these terms are linked to Dictionary.com but for complete definitions, go to the source; www.dictionary.com  Just thought it might be fun to have 1300+ terms relating to music and sound in one place for, well, for all kinds of possibilities….

1. How ’bout building crossword puzzles for music students?

2. Maybe you write prose or poetry and you’re looking for some out-of-the-ordinary adjectives or adverbs like anechoic or homophonous?

3. Perhaps you’re looking for a name for your new band, how about Euphonius Concord, or The Modal Pedaliters?

4. Looking for a  stage name? How ’bout Emmeleia Marcato or  Tenor Morceau?

5. Or maybe you just opened a new coffee shop and need some original drink names, like a Double Demisemiquaver or a Soy Semibreve?

What else might we do with these wonderful words?

Main Entry:	music
Part of Speech:	noun
Definition:	sounds that are pleasant, harmonized
Synonyms:	a cappella, acoustic, air, bebop, bop, chamber, classical, folk, fusion, hard rock, harmony, heavy metal, hymn, instrumental, jazz, measure, melody, modern, opera, piece, plainsong, popular, ragtime, rap, refrain, rock, rock and roll, singing, song, soul, strain, swing, tune
Antonyms:	silenceRoget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2010 by the Philip Lief Group.

Related WordsMain Entry: music
Part of Speech: noun

Related Adjectives: a cappella, accelerando, agitato, allegretto, allegro, andante, andantino, animato, appassionato, assonant, atonal, calando, canorous, choral, chromatic, classical, clear, clear as a bell, concentual, contrapuntal, crescendo, diatonic, diminuendo, dolce, dulcet, enchanting, enharmonic, euphonic, euphonical, euphonious, fidicinal, fine, fortissimo, full, go, grazioso, harmonical, harmonious, hip, homophonous, in concert, in concord, in tune, instrumental, isotonic, larghetto, largo, legato, lento, lyric, lyriform, lyrophorous, maestoso, marcato, martellato, measured, melismatic, mellifluous, mellow, melodious, melomaniac, modal, moderato, modern, modulaminous, musical, operatic, parlando, pedaliter, pentatonic, pianissimo, piano, pizzicato, plagal, playing, presto, rallentando, rhythmical, ripieno, ritardando, romantic, rubato, scherzando, semiclassical, semplice, silver, soft, sostenuto, spiccato, staccato, subito, sweet, symphonious, symphonizing, tenuto, tunable, tuneful, tutti, twelve, unplugged, vigoroso, vocal, zoppa

Adjective Finder
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Concept Thesaurus

Concept: Music.

Category: 2. Sensation; special sensation; sound; musical sounds

Synonyms:

-nouns

music; concert; strain, tune, air; melody; aria, arietta; piece of music, sonata; rondo, rondeau; pastorale, cavatina, roulade, fantasia, concerto, overture, symphony, variations, cadenza; cadence; fugue, canon, serenade, notturno [Italian], dithyramb; opera, operetta; oratorio; composition, movement; stave; passamezzo [Italian], toccata, Vorspiel [German]., instrumental music; full score; minstrelsy, tweedledum and tweedledee, band, orchestra; concerted piece, potpourri, capriccio., vocal music, vocalism; chaunt, chant; psalm, psalmody; hymn; song (poem); canticle, canzonet, cantata, bravura, lay, ballad, ditty, carol, pastoral, recitative, recitativo, solfeggio., Lydian measures; slow music, slow movent; adagio; minuet; siren strains, soft music, lullaby; dump; dirge (lament); pibroch; martial music, march; dance music; waltz (dance)., solo, duet, duo, trio; quartet, septet; part song, descant, glee, madrigal, catch, round, chorus, chorale; antiphon, antiphony; accompaniment, second, bass; score; bourdon, drone, morceau, terzetto., composer; musician.

-verbs

compose, perform; attune.

-adjectives

musical; instrumental, vocal, choral, lyric, operatic; harmonious; Wagnerian.

-adverbs

adagio; largo, larghetto, andante, andantino; alla capella; maestoso, moderato; allegro, allegretto; spiritoso, vivace, veloce; presto, prestissimo; con brio; capriccioso; scherzo, scherzando; legato, staccato, crescendo, diminuendo, rallentando, affettuoso; obbligato; pizzicato; desto.

-phrases

“in notes by distance made more sweet” [Collins]; “like the faint exquisite music of a dream” [Moore]; “music arose with its voluptuous swell” [Byron]; “music is the universal language of mankind” [Longfellow]; “music’s golden tongue” [Keats]; “the speech of angels” [Carlyle]; “will

Concept Thesaurus
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Main Entry: chorus

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: refrain

Synonyms:

bob, burden, chorale, main section, melody, motif, music, recurrent verse, response, ritornelle, song, strain, theme, tune, undersong

Main Entry:

composition

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: written or musical creation

Synonyms: arrangement, article, cantata, chart, concerto, dissertation, drama, essay, exercise, exposition, fiction, getup, literary work, manuscript, melody, music , novel, number, opus, paper, piece, play, poetry, rhapsody, romance, score, setup, short story, song, stanza, study, symphony, theme, thesis, tune, verse, work, writing

Main Entry: din

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: loud, continuous noise

Synonyms: babel, bedlam, boisterousness, brouhaha, buzz, clamor, clangor, clash, clatter, commotion, confusion, crash, disquiet, hoo-ha, hubbub, hullabaloo*, hurly-burly, jangle, music , outcry, pandemonium, percussion, racket, row, shout, sound, stridency, tintamarre, tintinnabulation, tumult, uproar

* = informal/non-formal usage

Main Entry: medium

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: area of artistic expression

Synonyms: art, drama, interpretation, manifestation, mark, music , painting, revelation, sculpture, speech, writing

Main Entry: melody

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: harmony, tune

Synonyms: air, aria, assonance, carillon, chant, chime, concord, consonance, descant, diapason, euphony, inflection, lay, lyric, measure, melodiousness, music , musicality, refrain, resonance, run, song, strain, theme, tunefulness, unison

Antonyms: cacophony, disharmony

Main Entry: meter

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: rhythm, beat

Synonyms: cadence, cadency, feet, lilt, measure, mora, music , pattern, poetry, rhyme, structure, swing

Main Entry: opus

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: great work of writing or music

Synonyms: composition, creation, magnum opus, music , oeuvre, piece, product, production

Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2010 by the Philip Lief Group.

Main Entry: refrain

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: chorus of musical piece

Synonyms: burden, melody, music, song, strain, theme, tune, undersong

Notes: refrain  means to choose not to do something or partake of something; restrain  means to immobilize by force or to forbid an action

Main Entry: score

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: musical arrangement

Synonyms: charts, composition, music , orchestration, transcript

Main Entry: sound

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: something heard or audible

Synonyms: accent, din, harmony, intonation, loudness, melody, modulation, music , noise, note, pitch, racket, report, resonance, reverberation, ringing, softness, sonance, sonancy, sonority, sonorousness, static, tenor, tonality, tone, vibration, voice

Antonyms: silence

Main Entry: lullaby

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: nighttime song

Synonyms: berceuse, croon, music , song

Main Entry: stomp

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: loud dance

Synonyms: dance, jazz, music , stamp, trample, tread

Main Entry: symphony

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: band

Synonyms: concert, harmony, music , orchestra

Main Entry: waltz

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: dance

Synonyms: march, music , whirl

Related Words

Main Entry: composition

Part of Speech: noun

Related Adjectives: combined, esemplastic, heterogeneous, hybrid, impregnated with, ingrained, synthetic

Main Entry: sound

Part of Speech: adjective, noun, verb

Related Adjectives: deaf, faint, loud, acoustic, altitonant, amphorous, anechoic, assonant, audible, audio, auditory, aural, auricular, borborygmic, buccinal, cacuminal, closed, distinct, dumb, foudroyant, glad, inaudible, isacoustic, monophonic, mum, mute, noisy, non, quadraphonic, quiet, rataplan, raucous, reel, rooped, roupy, singultous, soft, sonant, sonic, soniferous, sonorific, sonorous, sounding, soundproof, stereophonic, stertorous, still, stone, supersonic, throaty, tone

Adjective Finder
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Concept Thesaurus

Concept: Composition.

Category: 4. CONCRETE QUANTITY

Synonyms:

-nouns

composition, constitution, crasis; combination; inclusion, admission, comprehension, reception; embodiment; formation.

-verbs

be composed of, be made of, be formed of, be made up of; consist of, be resolved into., include (in a class); contain, hold, comprehend, take in, admit, embrace, embody; involve, implicate; drag into., compose, constitute, form, make; make up, fill up, build up; enter into the composition of (be a component).

-adjectives

containing, constituting.

Concept Thesaurus
Copyright © 2010 by Dictionary.com, LLC.

Concept Thesaurus

Concept:Sound

Category: 2. Sensation; special sensation; sound; sound in general

Synonyms:

-nouns

sound, noise, strain; accent, twang, intonation, tone; cadence; sonorousness; audibility; resonance; voice; aspirate; ideophone; rough breathing., [Science, of sound] acoustics; phonics, phonetics, phonology, phonography; diacoustics, diaphonics; phonetism.

-verbs

produce sound; sound, make a noise; give out sound, emit sound; resound.

-adjectives

sounding; soniferous; sonorous, sonorific; resonant, audible, distinct; stertorous; phonetic; phonic, phonocamptic.

-phrases

“a thousand trills and quivering sounds” [Addison]; forensis strepitus.

Antonyms: silence

Concept Thesaurus

Concept: Melody. Concord.

Category: 2. Sensation; special sensation; sound; musical sounds

Synonyms:

-nouns

melody, rhythm, measure; rhyme (poetry)., pitch, timbre, intonation, tone., scale, gamut; diapason; diatonic scale, chromatic scale, enharmonic scale; key, clef, chords., modulation, temperament, syncope, syncopation, preparation, suspension, resolution., staff, stave, line, space, brace; bar, rest; appoggiato, appoggiatura; acciaccatura., note, musical note, notes of a scale; sharp, flat, natural; high note (shrillness); low note; interval; semitone; second, third, fourth; diatessaron., breve, semibreve, minim, crotchet, quaver; semiquaver, demisemiquaver; sustained note, drone, burden., tonic; key note, leading note, fundamental note; supertonic, mediant, dominant; submediant, subdominant; octave, tetrachord; major key, minor key, major scale, minor scale, major mode, minor mode; passage, phrase., concord, harmony; emmeleia; unison, unisonance; chime, homophony; euphony, euphonism; tonality; consonance; consent; part., [Science of harmony] harmony, harmonics; thorough-bass, fundamental-bass; counterpoint; faburden., piece of music; composer, harmonist, contrapuntist.

-verbs

be harmonious; harmonize, chime, symphonize, transpose; put in tune, tune, accord, string.

-adjectives

harmonious, harmonical; in concord, in tune, in concert; unisonant, concentual, symphonizing, isotonic, homophonous, assonant; ariose, consonant., measured, rhythmical, diatonic, chromatic, enharmonic., melodious, musical; melic; tuneful, tunable; sweet, dulcet, canorous; mellow, mellifluous; soft, clear, clear as a bell; silvery; euphonious, euphonic, euphonical; symphonious; enchanting (pleasure-giving) [more]; fine-toned, full-toned, silver-toned.

-adverbs

harmoniously

-phrases

“the hidden soul of harmony” [Milton].

Antonyms: discord