chordnoun [ C ]
uk/kɔːd/us/kɔːrd/chord noun [ C ] (MUSIC)
three or more musical notes played at the same time:
She strummed a few chords on her guitar.
a C major chord
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Technical music terms
- accidental
- adagio
- allegro
- antiphonal
- arpeggio
- arr
- arrange
- cadence
- harmony
- key signature
- legato
- mike check
- motif
- pizzicato
- timbre
- tuning
- twelve-tone
- twelve-tone scale
- unison
- up-tempo
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chord noun [ C ] (MATHS)
a straight line that joins the ends of an arc (= a curved line that forms part of a circle)
Examples from literature
- For me a simple chord of Beethoven is enough.
- Perhaps the guilty one did not dare to leave Atlanta, for the chimes sang in minor chords on several nights after.
- She strummed a few chords on her guitar.
- Then there must be a thorough drill in scales, arpeggios, chords, and a variety of finger exercises, before any kind of pieces are taken up.
- Wistful almost is the slow vanishing until the last chords come like the breaking of a fairy trance.