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/kæntɪˈleɪnə/ · noun
(music) A vocal melody or instrumental passage in a smooth, lyrical style..
He played a lazy tune that sinuated from C sharp down to G natural and back again. Astonishing that he could flute so lazy a cantilena while chasing nymphs.
The sounds of insects, of which I am seldom conscious unless I have not heard them in some time, resumed, with a noise that reminded me of the tuning of the strings in the Blue Hall before the first cantilena began, a noise I sometimes used to listen to when I lay on my pallet near the open port of the apprentices' dormitory.
Use cantilena when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Cantilena means (music) A vocal melody or instrumental passage in a smooth, lyrical style..
The closest synonym depends on the sentence and intended sense.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
He played a lazy tune that sinuated from C sharp down to G natural and back again. Astonishing that he could flute so lazy a cantilena while chasing nymphs.
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