harmonic

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: har=mon=ic

CIDE DICTIONARY

harmonic, a. [L. harmonicus, Gr. "armoniko`s; cf. F. harmonique. See Harmony.].

•  Concordant; musical; consonant; as, harmonic sounds.  [1913 Webster]

  "Harmonic twang! of leather, horn, and brass."  [1913 Webster]
•  Relating to harmony, -- as melodic relates to melody; harmonious; esp., relating to the accessory sounds or overtones which accompany the predominant and apparent single tone of any string or sonorous body.  [1913 Webster]
•  Having relations or properties bearing some resemblance to those of musical consonances; -- said of certain numbers, ratios, proportions, points, lines, motions, and the like.  [1913 Webster]

Harmonic interval (Mus.), the distance between two notes of a chord, or two consonant notes. -- Harmonical mean (Arith. & Alg.), certain relations of numbers and quantities, which bear an analogy to musical consonances. -- Harmonic motion, <-- reference to diagram of a circle with radius having point P on the circle, and a diameter with point A in the diameter. The motion of point A, plotted over time, will describe a sine wave! --> the motion of the point A, of the foot of the perpendicular PA, when P moves uniformly in the circumference of a circle, and PA is drawn perpendicularly upon a fixed diameter of the circle. This is simple harmonic motion. The combinations, in any way, of two or more simple harmonic motions, make other kinds of harmonic motion. The motion of the pendulum bob of a clock is approximately simple harmonic motion. -- Harmonic proportion. See under Proportion. -- Harmonic series or Harmonic progression. See under Progression. -- Spherical harmonic analysis, a mathematical method, sometimes referred to as that of Laplace's Coefficients, which has for its object the expression of an arbitrary, periodic function of two independent variables, in the proper form for a large class of physical problems, involving arbitrary data, over a spherical surface, and the deduction of solutions for every point of space. The functions employed in this method are called spherical harmonic functions. Thomson & Tait. -- Harmonic suture (Anat.), an articulation by simple apposition of comparatively smooth surfaces or edges, as between the two superior maxillary bones in man; -- called also harmonia, and harmony. -- Harmonic triad (Mus.), the chord of a note with its third and fifth; the common chord.

harmonic, n. 

 A musical note produced by a number of vibrations which is a multiple of the number producing some other; an overtone. See Harmonics.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

harmonic, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 of or characterized by harmony; harmonious.
2 Mus. a of or relating to harmony. b (of a tone) produced by vibration of a string etc. in an exact fraction of its length.
3 Math. of or relating to quantities whose reciprocals are in arithmetical progression (harmonic progression).
--n.
1 Mus. an overtone accompanying at a fixed interval (and forming a note with) a fundamental.
2 Physics a component frequency of wave motion.

Idiom

harmonic motion (in full simple harmonic motion) oscillatory motion under a retarding force proportional to the amount of displacement from an equilibrium position. harmonic progression (or series) Math. a series of quantities whose reciprocals are in arithmetical progression.

Derivative

harmonically adv.

Etymology

L harmonicus f. Gk harmonikos (as HARMONY)

THESAURUS

harmonic

AF, accordant, according, assonant, assonantal, attuned, audio frequency, blended, blending, chiming, concordant, consonant, flageolet tone, fluctuant, fluctuating, fluctuational, frequency, fundamental, fundamental tone, harmonic tone, harmonious, harmonizing, homophonic, in accord, in chorus, in concert, in concord, in sync, in tune, in unison, intonation, libratory, monodic, monophonic, monotone, monotony, musical, nutational, oscillating, oscillatory, overtone, partial, partial tone, pendular, pendulous, periodic, pitch, resonant, symphonic, symphonious, synchronized, synchronous, tone, tonelessness, tuned, unisonant, unisonous, vacillating, vacillatory, vibratile, vibrating, vibratory, wavering