Meaning of Rhapsody | Babel Free

Definitions

1. An epic poem, or part of one, suitable for uninterrupted recitation.
   historical
2. An exaggeratedly enthusiastic or exalted expression of feeling in speech or writing.
   broadly, sometimes
3. An instrumental composition of irregular form, often incorporating improvisation.
   broadly
4. A random collection or medley; a miscellany; also, a confused string of stories, words, etc.
   archaic, broadly
5. A literary composition consisting of miscellaneous works.
   broadly, obsolete, sometimes

Equivalents

Examples

“Of course here Mr. Pen went off into a rhapsody through which, as we have perfect command over our own feelings, we have no reason to follow the lad. Of course, love, truth, and eternity were produced: and words were tried but found impossible to plumb the tremendous depth of his affection.”

“Such an act / That blurs the grace and blush of modesty; / Calls virtue hypocrite; takes off the rose / From the fair forehead of an innocent love / And sets a blister there; makes marriage vows / As false as dicers' oaths; O, such a deed / As from the body of contraction plucks / The very soul, and sweet religion makes / A rhapsody of words!”

“This concerneth not those mingle-mangles of many kinds of stuffe, or as the Grecians call them Rapsodies, that for such are published[…].”

“He, that makes no reflexions on what he reads, only loads his mind with a rhapsody of tales fit for the entertainment of others.”

CEFR level