counterpoint

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
In this sense the comparison to Bach and his counterpoint is an apt one, for in that music, too, both player and listener can always hear something new, the elegant course of a contrapuntal voice, the suddenly bold gesture of a countersubject somehow never noticed before.

View all »
Definitions (22)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. noun Music Melodic material that is added above or below an existing melody.
  2. noun Music The technique of combining two or more melodic lines in such a way that they establish a harmonic relationship while retaining their linear individuality.
  3. noun Music A composition or piece that incorporates or consists of contrapuntal writing.
4 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 102 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

cadence ·  juxtaposition ·  undertone ·  lilt ·  backdrop ·  sonata ·  intonation ·  harmony ·  fugue ·  chord ·  diction ·  orchestration
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Now corrupted to counterpane, q. v.; Middle English counturpynt, from Old French contrepointe, contrepoinct, a quilt; corrupted, in simulation of contrepointer, work the backstitch (from contre + pointe, a bodkin), from coutrepointe, coutepoint (French courte-pointe), from Middle Latin culcita puncta, a counterpane, literally a stitched quilt: L. culcitra, Middle Latin culcita (later Old French coutre, cotre, cuilte, later English quilt, q. v.); puncta, feminine of punctus, pricked, stitched: see point.
  2. from French contrepoint = Spanish contrapunto = Portuguese contraponto = Italian contrappunto (later D. contrapunt; cf. German contrapunkt = Danish Swedish kontrapunkt), from Middle Latin *contrapunctum (in music, cantus contrapunctus; cf. pricksong), from Latin contra, against, + punctus, pricked, dotted, punctum, point: see counter- and point. In former times musical sounds were represented by dots or points placed on the lines, and the added part or parts were written by placing the proper points under or against each other—punctum contra punctum, point against point.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈkaʊntərpɔɪnt/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a month.

Recently looked up

technics · ambient · vise-like · behest · kingdom

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

maladministration · antidisestablishmentarianism · parsimonious · soliloquy · insipid