Wordbay · Art & music
Words about art and music
The vocabulary for talking about a painting, a performance or a piece of music without falling back on “I liked it”.
Everyday (19)
- aesthetic adjective. Concerned with beauty, or with how pleasing something looks.
- avant-garde adjective. New and experimental, pushing beyond what is accepted in art, music or ideas.
- cadence noun. The rise and fall of a voice, or the rhythm of a piece of speech or music.
- cliffhanger noun. A dramatic ending to an episode or chapter that leaves the outcome unresolved and the audience eager for more.
- contemporary adjective. Living or happening at the same time as something else.
- crescendo noun. A steady build in loudness or intensity, in music or in life.
- curate verb. To choose, arrange and present a collection of things, such as artworks, with care.
- dissonance noun. A harsh combination of notes or sounds that seem to clash.
- ensemble noun. A group of musicians, actors or dancers who perform together.
- homage noun. A work or act that openly honours someone or something admired.
- lyrical adjective. Expressing feeling in a beautiful, songlike or poetic way.
- montage noun. A sequence of short shots or images edited together to show a lot in little time.
- motif noun. A shape, idea or tune that recurs through a work and helps give it its character.
- muse noun. A person or thing that inspires an artist's work.
- palette noun. The range of colours an artist uses, or the board on which the paint is mixed.
- parody noun. A piece of writing, music or film that imitates another's style for comic effect.
- repertoire noun. The full set of pieces or skills that a performer or person can call on.
- slapstick noun. Boisterous comedy built on pratfalls, collisions and physical mishaps.
- virtuoso noun. A performer with outstanding technical skill, especially in music.
Well-read (27)
- allegory noun. A story, poem or picture in which characters and events stand for deeper ideas, often moral or political.
- anaemic adjective. Having too few red blood cells, and so looking pale and feeling tired.
- bravura noun. Great skill and daring in a performance, shown off with a flourish.
- cacophony noun. A harsh, jarring mixture of loud sounds.
- chiaroscuro noun. A strong contrast of light and dark in a picture, used to give depth and drama.
- coda noun. A closing passage that rounds off a piece of music or a story.
- cognoscenti noun. People with expert knowledge of a subject, especially art, food or fashion.
- deus ex machina noun. An unlikely event or character that suddenly solves a seemingly hopeless problem in a story.
- elegy noun. A poem or song of serious reflection, especially a lament for someone who has died.
- impasto noun. Paint laid on so thickly that the brush or knife marks stand out from the surface.
- juvenilia noun. Works produced by a writer or artist when young, often published or studied only after they became famous.
- kitsch noun. Art or objects in gaudy, sentimental bad taste, sometimes enjoyed ironically.
- leitmotif noun. A recurring tune or idea linked to a particular character, place or theme.
- mellifluous adjective. Sweet, smooth and pleasant to hear.
- oeuvre noun. The whole body of work produced by an artist, writer or composer.
- pastiche noun. A work that imitates another artist's style, often as an affectionate tribute.
- patina noun. A sheen or film that forms on a surface such as bronze or wood through age and use.
- provenance noun. The record of where something, especially an artwork, came from and who has owned it.
- rococo adjective. In an ornate eighteenth-century style full of curves, shells and gilding.
- schmaltz noun. Excessive sentimentality, especially in music or film.
- sonorous adjective. Deep, full and resonant in sound.
- staccato adjective. With each note or sound short and sharply separated from the next.
- timbre noun. The particular quality of a sound that makes one voice or instrument different from another.
- transcendent adjective. Going beyond ordinary limits or experience; in religion, existing beyond the physical world.
- triptych noun. A picture or carving on three hinged panels, or any work in three related parts.
- verisimilitude noun. The quality of seeming true or real, especially in a work of fiction or art.
- wabi-sabi noun. A Japanese view of beauty that finds grace in imperfection, age and simplicity.
Advanced (16)
- aleatory adjective. Depending on chance or luck rather than on design.
- anacrusis noun. One or more unstressed notes or syllables before the first strong beat of a tune or line.
- contrapposto noun. A standing pose with the weight on one leg, so the hips and shoulders tilt opposite ways.
- ekphrasis noun. Writing that vividly describes or responds to a work of visual art.
- Gesamtkunstwerk noun. A total work of art that unites music, drama, design and more into a single whole.
- grisaille noun. Painting done entirely in shades of grey, often to imitate carved stone.
- jolie laide noun. A person, traditionally a woman, whose unconventional looks are strikingly attractive.
- melisma noun. A group of several notes sung on a single syllable of text.
- meretricious adjective. Showily attractive but cheap, hollow or insincere.
- numinous adjective. Filled with a sense of the holy or mysterious, inspiring awe and a feeling of something greater.
- ostinato noun. A short musical pattern repeated over and over beneath the rest of a piece.
- pentimento noun. A trace of an earlier painting or a change of mind that shows through later layers of paint.
- quodlibet noun. A light piece of music that weaves several well-known tunes together.
- sfumato noun. Softening outlines with gradual, smoky blends of tone instead of hard edges.
- sprezzatura noun. Studied carelessness: making something difficult look effortless and casual.
- vomitory noun. A passage in a stadium or theatre through which crowds pour in and out.