Voice, sound and musical performance

C2 · 100 entries · Five themes

Voice, sound and musical performance

Created by , British English teacher.

Open a theme, then select a word or phrase for its meaning, example and pronunciation.

1. Pitch and vocal quality (20 entries)
  1. mellifluous
  2. reedy
  3. gravelly
  4. dulcet
  5. sonorous
  6. quavering
  7. tremulous
  8. timbre
  9. a breathy upper register
  10. a keening sound
  11. a husky undertone
  12. an offbeat accent
  13. a plangent melody
  14. decrescendo
  15. a muted timbre
  16. intone
  17. melodious
  18. an understated crescendo
  19. flighty
  20. lyricist
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2. Rhythm and cadence (20 entries)
  1. an unresolved cadence
  2. syncopation
  3. polysyndeton
  4. a faltering cadence
  5. a syncopated pulse
  6. a falling cadence
  7. asyndeton
  8. reverberate
  9. chiasmus
  10. half rhyme
  11. syllabic
  12. internal rhyme
  13. recitation
  14. reverberation
  15. echo
  16. polysyllabic
  17. echolocation
  18. wheeze
  19. choreography
  20. verily
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3. Silence and restraint (20 entries)
  1. say the quiet part out loud
  2. hold one's tongue
  3. let something go unsaid
  4. murmur
  5. not mince one's words
  6. let something slip
  7. let a remark pass
  8. say one's piece
  9. keep mum about something
  10. talk at cross purposes
  11. make no secret of something
  12. let slip that
  13. talk someone round
  14. talk the hind legs off a donkey
  15. talk round in circles
  16. talk shop
  17. leave a remark hanging
  18. talk one's way out of something
  19. talk oneself into a corner
  20. hold one's peace
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4. Instruments and performance (20 entries)
  1. counterpoint
  2. a rhythmic displacement
  3. a dissonant interval
  4. a deliberately held pause
  5. a bravura performance
  6. harmony
  7. a sustained vibrato
  8. a sustained pedal note
  9. a resonant bass
  10. melody
  11. a gradual diminuendo
  12. improvisational
  13. a contrapuntal texture
  14. virtuoso
  15. resound
  16. impresario
  17. virtuosity
  18. precocious
  19. adept
  20. singe
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5. Forceful speech and vocal expression (20 entries)
  1. strident
  2. impassioned
  3. flowery
  4. stilted
  5. prolix
  6. bombastic
  7. vitriolic
  8. verbose
  9. long-winded
  10. melodramatic
  11. polemical
  12. grandiloquent
  13. sententious
  14. vociferous
  15. condescending
  16. vehement
  17. declaim
  18. pompous
  19. babble
  20. ad lib
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