adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈɒɹiːəʊs/
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈæ-/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:/ˈɑɹiˌoʊs/
General-American:/ˈæ-/
1
adj
Meaning 1
Melodic and song-like.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music
Examples
Much easy-listening music is light and ariose.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: recitative
2
adjective satellite
Meaning 2
having a melody (as distinguished from recitative)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: songlike
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Italian arioso (“airy, breezy”) (from aria (“air; aria, song”) (from Ancient Greek ᾱ̓ήρ (āḗr, “air; wind”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h2ews- (“dawn; east”)) + -oso) + -ose.
Across languages
Translations
1 source translations are retained for this English entry.