har ‧ mo ‧ ny /ˈhɑːməni $ ˈhɑːr-/ BrE AmE noun ( plural harmonies )
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: French ; Origin: harmonie , from Latin harmonia , from Greek , 'joint, harmony' ]
1 . [countable usually plural, uncountable] notes of music combined together in a pleasant way
in harmony
a choir singing in perfect harmony
the gorgeous vocal harmonies on ‘Mexicali Rose’
three-part harmonies
2 . [uncountable] when people live or work together without fighting or disagreeing with each other:
I do believe it is possible for different ethnic groups to live together in harmony.
peace and harmony
an era of peace and harmony
live/work etc in harmony
3 . be in harmony with something formal to agree with another idea, feeling etc, or look good with other things:
Your suggestions are not in harmony with the aims of this project.
4 . [uncountable] the pleasant effect made by different things that form an attractive whole:
the harmony of sea and sky
⇨ ↑ discord
• • •
COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 2)
■ adjectives
▪ racial/social/political harmony
We aim to promote racial harmony through shared sporting activities.
▪ domestic harmony (=harmony in the home)
There was a lot of tension beneath the impression of domestic harmony.
▪ perfect harmony
As producer and director, the Coen brothers work together in perfect harmony.
▪ relative/reasonable harmony (=quite friendly and peaceful when compared to something else)
The tribes have lived together in relative harmony for years.
▪ inner harmony (=a feeling of being peaceful and calm)
His search for inner harmony led him to Buddhism.
■ verbs
▪ live in harmony
The two friends continued to live in harmony.
▪ work in harmony
He urged all Americans to work in harmony to solve the nation’s problems.
▪ achieve harmony
If this really is a fair society, why is it taking so long to achieve racial harmony?
▪ promote harmony (=do things that help friendship or peace develop or improve)
We need to develop ways of promoting harmony between nations.
▪ create harmony
The idea is to create better harmony in the community.
▪ restore harmony (=make friendship or peace exist again)
The couple decided to put their problems behind them in an attempt to restore harmony to the family.
■ phrases
▪ peace and harmony
We must stop these disagreements in the interests of peace and harmony.
▪ a sense of harmony (=a feeling of friendship and peace)
There was a quiet sense of harmony between them as they walked along.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ music the sounds made by musical instruments or people singing:
The music was really loud.
▪ tune the main series of musical notes in a piece of music:
a folk song with a pretty tune
▪ melody the main series of notes in a piece of music that has many notes being played at the same time, especially in classical music:
The soprano sang the melody.
▪ harmony the chords or notes in a piece of music that support the melody:
the rich harmonies in the symphony
▪ piece ( also piece of music ) an arrangement of musical notes – use this about music without words:
It’s a difficult piece to play.
▪ composition formal a piece of music that someone has written:
This is one of his own compositions.
▪ work a piece of music, especially classical music:
one of Mozart’s best-known works
▪ track one of the songs or pieces of music on a CD:
the album’s title track
▪ number a piece of popular music that forms part of a concert or show:
the show’s first number