lilt
lilt Lexical Profile
lilt Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A characteristic rising and falling of the voice when speaking, or a pleasant, buoyant rhythm in music.
"She spoke with the unmistakable, musical lilt of the Scottish Highlands."
A buoyant, nimble, or springy movement or gait.
"After hearing the good news, he walked down the corridor with a joyful lilt in his step."
A cheerful, lively song or tune.
"The fiddler played a merry lilt that soon had everyone in the hall dancing."
• verb
To speak, sing, or play music with a cheerful, rhythmic rising and falling of the voice or sound.
"Her voice lilted pleasantly as she read the rhyming story aloud to the children."
To move with a light, buoyant, or rhythmical step.
"The dancers lilted gracefully across the wooden stage."
• Rhymes for lilt
Word Origin & Etymology
From Middle English lilten ('to sound an alarm or play an instrument'), likely of imitative or Low German origin, popularized in standard English through 18th-century Scottish verse.