Word of the Day Archive
Tuesday December 14, 2004
dulcet \DUHL-sit\
, adjective:
1. Pleasing to the ear; melodious; harmonious.
2. Generally pleasing, soothing, or agreeable.
3. (Archaic) Sweet to the taste.
If you want to catch up with our most famous songster, the nightingale, just visit Minsmere at the end of April, or early May, and stand on the edge of the car park. You'll soon hear the dulcet tones of the poets' favourite bird.
-- Stephen Moss, "Birdwatch", The Guardian, October 23, 2000
Amanda . . . rages at her young 'uns in a voice that may have been full of dulcet notes when she turned the heads of her gentleman callers in her youth, but has now grown hard-edged and ringing, like a cracked bell.
-- Hal Hinson, Washington Post, November 11, 1987
Just as my eyelids started to get heavy and my brain began to relax its hold on wakefulness -- bam! -- the less than dulcet tones of Britain's top breakfast DJ started to emanate from my radio alarm.
-- "Secs in the City", The Guardian, July 30, 2001
Dulcet comes from Old French doucet, diminutive of dous, "sweet," from Latin dulcis, "sweet."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for dulcet
