Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Relating to harmony or musical consonance: Describes sounds that are pleasingly combined, or the study of such combinations.
   • Relating to a harmonic or overtone: Pertaining to a component frequency of a complex sound wave that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency.
   • Characterized by sympathetic vibration: In physics, describing vibrations in one body caused by vibrations in another at a specific frequency.
   • Of or relating to harmonics: Concerning the branch of acoustics or music theory that deals with the structure of musical sounds.

2. Noun:

   • A component tone in a complex sound: A pure tone whose frequency is an integer multiple (e.g., 2x, 3x) of a fundamental frequency. These components combine to create the timbre of a sound.
   • An overtone: Specifically, a frequency in the harmonic series above the fundamental pitch.

Examples

• Adjective:

  • The choir produced a beautifully harmonic sound. (The sound was characterized by pleasing consonance.)
  • The guitar string produced a harmonic overtone when lightly touched. (The overtone was part of the harmonic series.)
  • The study of harmonic progression is essential for composers. (It relates to the study of chord sequences in harmony.)

• Noun:

  • The flute's sound is rich in upper harmonics. (The sound contains many component tones at multiples of the fundamental frequency.)
  • When you play a note on a piano, you hear the fundamental pitch plus several harmonics. (You hear the main note and its integer-multiple overtones.)

Advanced Usage

• Harmonic analysis: The mathematical study of functions or signals by representing them as a sum of basic sinusoidal components (harmonics).
  • Fourier transform is a key tool in harmonic analysis.
• Harmonic mean: In mathematics, a type of average calculated as the reciprocal of the arithmetic mean of the reciprocals of the given set of values.
  • The harmonic mean is useful for averaging rates.
• Harmonic minor scale: In music theory, a variation of the minor scale with a raised seventh degree, used for harmonic purposes.
  • The harmonic minor scale creates a stronger pull toward the tonic chord.

Variants and Related Words

• Harmonically (adverb): In a harmonic manner; relating to harmony.
  • The voices were harmonically complex.
• Harmonics (noun, plural): The collective components of a sound that are integer multiples of the fundamental frequency; the study of such phenomena.
  • The engineer analyzed the harmonics of the engine noise.
• Harmonize (verb): To add notes to a melody to create harmony; to make consistent.
  • The singers will harmonize on the chorus.
• Inharmonic (adjective): Not harmonic; lacking the integer-multiple relationship of frequencies, often producing dissonance.
  • The bell's sound was inharmonic and clangorous.

Synonyms

• Consonant (adj): In agreement or harmony; musically concordant.
• Sympathetic (adj): In physics, relating to vibration induced in one body by another.
• Overtone (n): A component of a sound's harmonic series, often used synonymously with 'harmonic' (though technically, the first overtone is the second harmonic).

Related Phrases

• Harmonic series: The infinite sequence of frequencies that are integer multiples of a fundamental frequency.
  • The harmonic series is the basis of musical timbre.
• Harmonic progression: In music, a sequence of chords; in mathematics, a sequence of numbers whose reciprocals form an arithmetic progression.
  • The song uses a classic harmonic progression.
• Natural harmonic: On a string instrument, a clear, flute-like tone produced by lightly touching the string at a nodal point.
  • She played a natural harmonic on the cello.

Adjective

1. involving or characterized by harmony
2. relating to vibrations that occur as a result of vibrations in a nearby body
   • sympathetic vibration
3. of or relating to the branch of acoustics that studies the composition of musical sounds
   • the sound of the resonating cavity cannot be the only determinant of the harmonic response
4. of or relating to harmonics
5. of or relating to harmony as distinct from melody and rhythm
   • subtleties of harmonic change and tonality- Ralph Hill

Noun

1. any of a series of musical tones whose frequencies are integral multiples of the frequency of a fundamental
2. a tone that is a component of a complex sound