Longman Dictionary English

Explore Music Topic
Word family noun music musical musician musicianship musicology musicologist adjective musical unmusical adverb musically
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Related topics: Music
musicmu‧sic /ˈmjuːzɪk/ ●●● S1 W1 noun [uncountable] 1 APMa series of sounds made by instruments or voices in a way that is pleasant or exciting I often listen to classical music when I’m in the car. A new piece of music was specially written for the occasion.2 APMthe art of writing or playing music Peter’s studying music at college. music lessonsmusic business/industry etc a career in the music business3 APMa set of written marks representing music, or paper with the written marks on it I left my music at home. McCartney never learned to read music. → sheet music4 → be music to your ears5 → set/put something to music → face the music at face2(7)COLLOCATIONSverbslisten to musicElla was listening to music on her iPod.play musicA small band was playing jazz music.write/compose musicHe composed the music for the ‘Lord of the Rings’ films.make music (=play or compose music)We began making music together about five years ago.ADJECTIVES/NOUN + musicloud/soft/quietThey were kept awake by loud music from next door.pop/rock/classical etc musicJohnny Cash was one of country music’s greatest stars.live music (=played by musicians on stage)Most of the bars have live music.recorded musicLive music can sound very different from recorded music.background music (=that you hear but do not listen to)the soft background music in the restaurantchoral music (=sung by choirs)We perform a wide variety of choral music.instrumental music (=with no singing)a programme of instrumental musicchamber music (=classical music played by a small group of musicians)a performance of Schumann’s chamber musicorchestral music (=classical music played by a large group of musicians)He has a large CD collection, mostly orchestral music.piano/organ musicI love listening to piano music.music + NOUNa music loverFor music lovers, the city has two world-famous orchestras.Her recordings delighted music lovers.phrasesa piece of musicIt’s a beautiful piece of music.COMMON ERRORS ► Don’t say ‘classic music’. Say classical music. THESAURUSmusic the sounds made by musical instruments or people singingThe music was really loud.tune the main series of musical notes in a piece of musica folk song with a pretty tunemelody the main series of notes in a piece of music that has many notes being played at the same time, especially in classical musicThe soprano sang the melody.harmony the chords or notes in a piece of music that support the melodythe rich harmonies in the symphonypiece (also piece of music) an arrangement of musical notes – use this about music without wordsIt’s a difficult piece to play.composition formal a piece of music that someone has writtenThis is one of his own compositions.work a piece of music, especially classical musicone of Mozart’s best-known workstrack one of the songs or pieces of music on a CDthe album’s title tracknumber a piece of popular music that forms part of a concert or showthe show’s first number
Examples from the Corpus
music• Early childhood is also a time when drama, dance and music have a significant part to pay.• Oh, what beautiful music!• A lot of jazz and classical music was part of my music too, thanks to my uncle.• I've never been a big fan of country music.• If she closed her eyes she could see again those glittering lights and hear the gay, entrancing music.• Lincoln High has a good music program.• He arranged his music on the stand.• It was an odd period in music.• The club has live music every Saturday night.• The Royal College of Music• What kind of music does your band play?• What kinds of music do you like?• After the win, there was one more piece of music.• Would you like to listen to some music?• Did you study music at school?• My daughter teaches music.• I felt very moved by the sincerity of worship, the music, the servers - such dignity.• The music was so loud you couldn't carry on a conversation.• Off in a corner by yourselves, you slow-danced to music only you could hear.• They went to cultural events, they took music lessons.music business/industry etc• To help the process, Napster has published the email addresses of key music business execs on its site.• Often, smaller maverick publishers are the talent scouts for the music business.• Actually he hates the music business, and that whole London scene.• Other members of the Ramones have mentioned starting new bands or keeping a hand in the music business.• Gregory was seriously thinking of getting out of the music business at the time.• So I got out of the music business for ten years.• Experts on the music business hold that New York and London are well on their way out as the world music towns.read music• I could read music at one time but not now.• He could not read music, and had trouble getting jobs.• Born in Dulwich, she was educated at Sussex University where she read music and education in 1968.• I believe children should read music as soon as they are capable of doing so.• Then I discovered he couldn't read music.• I learned to read for drums first and then to sight sing choral music and then I learned to read music in general.• For the next few weeks I thought of little else, and planned to read music there.• If the voice is good enough, the singer will be taught to read music in classes and workshops.Origin music (1200-1300) Old French musique, from Latin, from Greek mousike “art of the Muses”, from Mousa; → MUSE2
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