harmonious

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /hɑːrˈmoʊniəs/ UK /hɑːˈməʊniəs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
forming a pleasing or consistent whole; free from discord

The choir blended into a single harmonious voice.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · forming a pleasing or... concordant congruous compatible melodious balanced agreeable

Opposites

discordant dissonant incongruous jarring

Word family

Forms harmoniouslyharmoniousness

Derived forms harmoniouslyharmoniousness

Related forms harmony harmonic harmonize

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

harmonious system
an arrangement whose parts fit together without conflict

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From harmony plus -ous, from Old French harmonieus, from Latin harmonia, from Ancient Greek harmonia ('agreement, joining'), from harmozein ('to join, fit together').

harmonia Latin harmozein Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# harmonious

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /hɑːrˈmoʊniəs/
**IPA (UK):** /hɑːˈməʊniəs/

## Meanings
1. forming a pleasing or consistent whole; free from discord

## Examples
- The choir blended into a single harmonious voice.

## Synonyms
- concordant
- congruous
- compatible
- melodious
- balanced
- agreeable

## Antonyms
- discordant
- dissonant
- incongruous
- jarring

## Derived Forms
- harmoniously
- harmoniousness

## Related Forms
- harmony
- harmonic
- harmonize

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: harmonia
- Root: harmozein

## Etymology
From harmony plus -ous, from Old French harmonieus, from Latin harmonia, from Ancient Greek harmonia ('agreement, joining'), from harmozein ('to join, fit together').

## AI Etymology
harmonious comes from harmony plus -ous, from Old French harmonieus, from Latin harmonia, from Ancient Greek harmonia ('agreement, joining'), from harmozein ('to join, fit together'). The path is chiefly one of transmission: the word passes through the named languages and forms, with each stage preserving part of the modern shape. In present English, the adjective sense is "forming a pleasing or consistent whole; free from discord", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as harmony, harmonic, and harmonize, and in derivatives such as harmoniously and harmoniousness. Its semantic neighborhood includes concordant, congruous, compatible, and melodious, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Ancient Greek harmonia and Ancient Greek harmozein.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown