Library / English Dictionary

SINGING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of singing vocal music

Synonyms:

singing; vocalizing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("singing" is a kind of...):

musical performance (the act of performing music)

vocal music (music that is vocalized (as contrasted with instrumental music))

Domain member category:

music (musical activity (singing or whistling etc.))

eisteddfod (any of several annual Welsh festivals involving artistic competitions (especially in singing))

chorus; Greek chorus (a company of actors who comment (by speaking or singing in unison) on the action in a classical Greek play)

coach; private instructor; tutor (a person who gives private instruction (as in singing, acting, etc.))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "singing"):

yodeling (singing by changing back and forth between the chest voice and a falsetto)

solfege; solfeggio; solmization (singing using solfa syllables to denote the notes of the scale of C major)

solfege; solfeggio (a voice exercise; singing scales or runs to the same syllable)

singalong; singsong (informal group singing of popular songs)

hymnody; psalmody (the act of singing psalms or hymns)

part-singing (singing with three or more voice parts)

karaoke (singing popular songs accompanied by a recording of an orchestra (usually in bars or nightclubs))

intonation (singing by a soloist of the opening piece of plainsong)

chanting; intonation (the act of singing in a monotonous tone)

humming (the act of singing with closed lips)

harmonisation; harmonization (singing in harmony)

scat; scat singing (singing jazz; the singer substitutes nonsense syllables for the words of the song and tries to sound like a musical instrument)

crooning (singing in a soft low tone)

crooning (the act of singing popular songs in a sentimental manner)

caroling (singing joyful religious songs (especially at Christmas))

coloratura (singing with florid ornamentation)

bel canto (a style of operatic singing)

a capella singing; a cappella singing (singing without instrumental accompaniment)

Derivation:

sing (produce tones with the voice)

sing (deliver by singing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Disclosing information or giving evidence about another

Synonyms:

singing; tattle; telling

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("singing" is a kind of...):

disclosure; revealing; revelation (the speech act of making something evident)

Derivation:

sing (divulge confidential information or secrets)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Smooth and flowing

Synonyms:

cantabile; singing

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

melodic; melodious; musical (containing or constituting or characterized by pleasing melody)

Domain category:

music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

-ing form of the verb sing

Credits

 Context examples: 

The sister lay back stone-dead in her chair, while the two brothers sat on each side of her laughing, shouting, and singing, the senses stricken clean out of them.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In one, sailors were singing at their work, in another there were men aloft, high over my head, hanging to threads that seemed no thicker than a spider's.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

His lash was always singing among the dogs, but it was of small avail.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Thanks to our sun's rumblings, Voyager has the opportunity to listen to the singing of interstellar space — an otherwise silent place.

(Sun sends more 'tsunami waves' to Voyager 1, NASA)

Jane, do you hear that nightingale singing in the wood?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

They walked along listening to the singing of the brightly colored birds and looking at the lovely flowers which now became so thick that the ground was carpeted with them.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

She spent whole hours at the pianoforte alternately singing and crying; her voice often totally suspended by her tears.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

A heavy swivel-hook, baited with fat salt-pork, was dropped overside; and by the time I had compressed the severed veins and arteries, the sailors were singing and heaving in the offending monster.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He began by speaking of the concert gravely, more like the Captain Wentworth of Uppercross; owned himself disappointed, had expected singing; and in short, must confess that he should not be sorry when it was over.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Every road leading from London, as well as those from Guildford in the west and Tunbridge in the east, had contributed their stream of four-in-hands, gigs, and mounted sportsmen, until the whole broad Brighton highway was choked from ditch to ditch with a laughing, singing, shouting throng, all flowing in the same direction.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)