vocal
A vocal sound; specifically, a purely vocal element of speech, unmodified except by…A vocal sound; specifically, a purely vocal element of speech, unmodified except by resonance; a vowel or a diphthong; a tonic element; a tonic.
» I like vocal music better than instrumental music.
Я більше люблю вокальну музику, ніж інструментальну. — anastasishko
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
4 sensesA vocal sound; specifically, a purely vocal element of speech, unmodified except by resonance; a vowel or a diphthong; a tonic element; a tonic.
A part of a piece of music that is sung.
A part of a piece of music that is sung.
A musical performance involving singing.
A man in the Roman Catholic Church who has a right to vote in certain elections.
- a short musical composition with words
- music intended to be performed by one or more singers, usually with instrumental accompaniment
Examples
40 sentencesI like vocal music better than instrumental music.
Я більше люблю вокальну музику, ніж інструментальну. — anastasishko
Tom and Mary sang background vocals.
Tom isn't as vocal as he used to be.
Tom is primarily the bass guitarist, but he sometimes sings backup vocals.
I'm not a vocal person.
Origin
Late Middle English vocal, borrowed from Latin vōcālis (“uttering a voice, sounding, speakLate Middle English vocal, borrowed from Latin vōcālis (“uttering a voice, sounding, speaking”), from vōx (“a voice, sound, tone”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of vowel and vocalis. Compare Old French vocal.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: vocalsSynonyms
2 synonymsWord family
12 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.