Homophony
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A musical texture in which two or more parts move together in harmony, the relationship between them creating chords; the quality of being homophonic. countable, uncountable
"On the other hand, it seems to be the fact that well-bred Englishmen do not say "it's him" or it's her." The formula is: "It's he"; "it's she"; "it's me." The homophony doubtless accounts for the anomaly in the case of "me.""
- 2 part music with one dominant voice (in a homophonic style) wordnet
- 3 The quality of being homophonous. countable, uncountable
"There is, for example, the homophony of "merry" and "Mary," which typifies the South Midland accent common in the hill country of east Tennessee and upper Georgia."
- 4 the same pronunciation for words of different origins wordnet
Example
More examples"On the other hand, it seems to be the fact that well-bred Englishmen do not say "it's him" or it's her." The formula is: "It's he"; "it's she"; "it's me." The homophony doubtless accounts for the anomaly in the case of "me.""
Etymology
Internationalism, from French homophonie, from Ancient Greek ὁμοφωνία (homophōnía, “unison”), from ὁμόφωνος (homóphōnos, “of the same sound or tone”). By surface analysis, homo- + -phony.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.