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polyphony

noun/pəˈlɪfəni/

C2CEFR level
78/100Rarity: rare
TechnicalRegister

Music combining several simultaneous independent melodic lines.

Renaissance polyphony weaves multiple voices into a single intricate texture.

Similar: counterpoint, harmony

Origin: From Greek poluphōnos 'many-voiced'.

Topic: musical texture in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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