harmony
agreement; accord; harmonious relations.
a consistent, orderly, or pleasing arrangement of parts; congruity.
Music.
any simultaneous combination of tones.
the simultaneous combination of tones, especially when blended into chords pleasing to the ear; chordal structure, as distinguished from melody and rhythm.
the science of the structure, relations, and practical combination of chords.
an arrangement of the contents of the Gospels, either of all four or of the first three, designed to show their parallelism, mutual relations, and differences.
Origin of harmony
1synonym study For harmony
word story For harmony
Harmonía ultimately derives from the very complicated Proto-Indo-European root ar-, (a)re-, rē-, ṛ- (with still more variants) “to fit, fit together, join.” Reflexes (derivatives) of this root appear in English arm (of the body), Latin arma “equipment, gear, weapons” and armus “(upper) arm.” Farther afield, Hittite has āra- “proper, fitting” and arā- “friend.”
The root variant ṛ- with a suffixed -t forms the noun stems ṛt- and art- “joined together, fitted,” source of Latin ars (stem art- ) “skill, dexterity, art,” artus (noun) and articulus “joint (of the body),” and artus (adjective) “tight, firm.” In the Indo-Iranian languages, ṛt- and art- form the nouns ṛtá- “order, truth, rule” in Vedic Sanskrit and arta (also aša ) “truth, right, justice, right order” in Zoroastrianism, in which arta- is the central principle and the foe of druj “deceit, falsehood, lie.”
Arta- is also the first element of the magnificent Old Iranian names Artavasdes, a Hellenized version of Artavazda (“exalting arta- ”), and Artvardiya “doer of arta- ”; Artaxerxes (Old Persian Artaxšacā ) “having a just kingdom” is from arta- and xšacā “rule, kingdom.” Xérxēs is the Hellenized form of Old Persian Xšyaršā ( Xšayaṛšā, Xšayaršā ) “ruling over heroes.” Xerxes I ruled the Persian Empire 486–465 b.c. He has a thoroughly bad rep: the new Athenian navy won a miraculous victory over his fleet in 480 b.c., and the Spartans and their allies crushed the Persian land forces in 479 b.c. After the debacle against the Greeks, Xerxes devoted himself to wine and women. He is Ahasuerus in the Hebrew Bible, in the Book of Esther.
Other words for harmony
Other words from harmony
- non·har·mo·ny, noun, plural non·har·mo·nies.
- pre·har·mo·ny, noun
Words Nearby harmony
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use harmony in a sentence
I had to play melody while simultaneously playing harmony with him.
As a young baby, her mother would sing her lullabies and “get totally freaked out” when she started singing them back in harmony.
‘All About That Bass’ Singer Meghan Trainor On Haters and Her Polarizing (and Unlikely) No. 1 Hit | Marlow Stern | October 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTLow-mass black holes “sing” in harmony with themselves, though with flashes of light instead of sound.
Soon cover versions were recorded by acts like Bone Thugs-N-harmony, Dope, and Rage Against the Machine.
A Brief History of the Phrase 'F*ck the Police' | Rich Goldstein | August 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHe wanted peace and harmony, and in this respect he was just another Roman ruler interested in imperial unity.
Plotting Nicea III Could Be Pope Francis's Masterstroke | Candida Moss | June 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
They are so rich in harmony, so weird, so wild, that when you hear them you are like a sea-weed cast upon the bosom of the ocean.
Music-Study in Germany | Amy FayMuch later, in the case of all but gifted children, do the mysteries of harmony begin to take on definite form and meaning.
Children's Ways | James SullyThere was acute disharmony in the room, where a little time before there had been at least an outward show of harmony.
The Wave | Algernon BlackwoodThe little glimpse of domestic harmony which had been offered her, gave her no regret, no longing.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories | Kate ChopinIn harmony with a fundamental rule of law, a member who has once been acquitted cannot be tried again for the same offense.
Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman | Albert Sidney Bolles
British Dictionary definitions for harmony
/ (ˈhɑːmənɪ) /
agreement in action, opinion, feeling, etc; accord
order or congruity of parts to their whole or to one another
agreeable sounds
music
any combination of notes sounded simultaneously
the vertically represented structure of a piece of music: Compare melody (def. 1b), rhythm (def. 1)
the art or science concerned with the structure and combinations of chords
a collation of the material of parallel narratives, esp of the four Gospels
Origin of harmony
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for harmony
The sounding of two or more musical notes at the same time in a way that is pleasant or desired. Harmony, melody, and rhythm are elements of music.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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