How to Use lilt in a Sentence

lilt

1 of 2 noun

• There was a charming lilt to her voice.
• His voice has a jazzy lilt and the swagger of that era.
  — Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 16 Jan. 2022
• Just listen to the meter of his lilt, the melody of it.
  — New York Times, 7 Jan. 2022
• And Adam Cork’s music is full of the blarney of Celtic lilt.
  — Ben Brantley, New York Times, 4 July 2018
• Suddenly, there’s a skip in its step and a lilt in the vocals.
  — Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 2 Apr. 2021
• There are shades of William F. Buckley, a little bit of a transatlantic lilt.
  — Olivia Nuzzi, Vulture, 28 Sep. 2021
• The recipe just waltzes along from there, a lazy lilt, the kitchen warming and savory aromas building.
  — Amiel Stanek, Bon Appetit, 9 Jan. 2018
• Her smoky voice lilts strong above a subtle, building beat.
  — Kat Bein, Billboard, 28 Apr. 2017
• All that was missing was one of those Boston-style scally caps and a fake Irish lilt.
  — Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press, 28 Aug. 2022
• Over the phone, with birds cawing in the background, her voice has an energized lilt.
  — Hunter Harris, WSJ, 16 Aug. 2022
• This is music that bobs and bubbles with a gentle lilt.
  — John Adamian, courant.com, 25 Oct. 2019
• His steps transform from the intentional rhythm of a walk, albeit with a bit of a lilt, to the faster pace of a full-on run.
  — Breanna Draxler, National Geographic, 21 Aug. 2020
• The British actor also says it with an old time-y lilt to his voice that makes it *chef’s kiss* perfect.
  — Andrea Wurzburger, PEOPLE.com, 21 Nov. 2019
• The right length and lilt of a sentence will let your reader take your meaning from it, and take it with pleasure.
  — Carl Zimmer, Discover Magazine, 12 Jan. 2011
• There’s still a twangy undertone, though, in both the Music Row genesis of the songs and the lilt of the production.
  — Natalie Weiner, Billboard, 19 Aug. 2021
• That gives it a modern lilt and a fun reason to keep coming back to it as a daily driver.
  — Brittany Vincent, BGR, 4 Feb. 2022
• With lazy memories of warm-day picnics and warm-night quilts on the grass, family all around, the music lilts.
  — Los Angeles Times, 4 Oct. 2019
• For example, Markle’s vowels might still sound American, but the lilt of the sentence might be less so.
  — Cari Romm, The Cut, 10 July 2018
• The word has a natural lilt, a melody that builds to a pitch and gently subsides like a wavelet breaking on a Mediterranean shore.
  — Paul Richardson, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Jan. 2023
• The score, too, shimmers with prettiness, lolling in lavender-and-plum harmonies, savoring the two-note lilt of a harp.
  — Vulture, 23 Nov. 2022
• But Compton’s voice—slightly raspy, with the lilt of a Caribbean accent—was focussed and calm.
  — Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 28 Aug. 2020
• Irmhild is soft-spoken, a German lilt shading certain words, and tall, with a direct gaze.
  — Cassandra Landry, SFChronicle.com, 31 July 2019
• Chef Chris Bleidorn’s take on the classic Parker House roll carries an avian lilt and is one of the 10 courses on the restaurant’s tasting menu.
  — Valerie Demicheva and Flora Chang, San Francisco Chronicle, 26 July 2021
• The 33-year-old’s sharp register is stunning—a loopy lilt full of acrobatic twists and turns.
  — Will Dukes, Rolling Stone, 9 Dec. 2022
• The winds conveyed the colorful splendor of the Firebird with fast flutterings and trills shaped with a lovely lilt.
  — Tim Diovanni, Dallas News, 29 May 2021
• The track has a bossa nova swing, but Reinhart's vocals — showcased on season 10 of American Idol — have the lilt of low-fi pop.
  — Rebecca Farley, refinery29.com, 31 May 2018
• The idiomatic lilt Valcuha brought to the waltzing rhythms lived in the flexible phrasing of the orchestra.
  — John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 2 June 2017
• In the chorus, all of the instruments drop out and we’re left with just a piano playing a series of riffs over the heartbreaking lilt of Warwick’s voice.
  — Geoff Edgers, Washington Post, 10 Feb. 2023
• The playwright Rebecca Gilman moved away from small-town Alabama long ago, but a soft Southern lilt still shapes her words.
  — Laura Collins-Hughes, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2023
• The familiar lilt in the voices of her favorite Afro-Caribbean sidewalk vendors rings like music in her ears.
  — Tyrone Beason, Los Angeles Times, 21 Sep. 2023

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lilt

2 of 2 verb

• Jones speaks in a deep baritone, her Robeson County lilt adding bounce and verve to the words.
  — Isabel Spiegel, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Oct. 2020
• The strings lilt and wail until Zauner begins shredding, like the notes can’t come out of her fast enough.
  — Justin Curto, Vulture, 4 June 2021
• The messages were often encoded to fool the censors; Mr. Bosco’s lilting tunes and rhythms made every song seem to float.
  — James Gavin, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2017
• On some days inside that glitzy office, the soundtrack to his view is Spotify, lilting Grateful Dead music.
  — Dana Benbow, Indianapolis Star, 4 Jan. 2018
• Kitty’s voice is also much deeper and more powerful compared to Watson’s lilting, airy singing heard on the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack.
  — Ariana Brockington, refinery29.com, 5 Mar. 2020
• With her long blonde hair, lilting soprano and acoustic guitar, the enduring image of the singer-songwriter icon is one that dates back to the late ‘60s or early ‘70s.
  — Maeve McDermott, USA TODAY, 27 Oct. 2017
• But in the main guesthouse Tuesday, lilting reggae wafted through the open air bar, as government relief workers tapped away on laptops.
  — Richard Fausset, New York Times, 3 Oct. 2017
• The witty script glitters with the couple’s duelling voice-over accounts of the way things happened; the effervescent score, by André Previn, seems to set their voices to lilting music as if in a virtual operetta.
  — The New Yorker, 2 Apr. 2020
• And so many of his ideas are inspired, like adding the forlorn country lilt of an accordionist (Veli Kujala) to the scene in which Hamlet corrals a traveling troupe of actors to put on an evocation of his father’s murder.
  — New York Times, 15 May 2022
• With her band members backing her up, Ballerini shows her voice to be well-suited for the song, never exactly imitating the rock icon’s inflections but instead adding a bit of her own East Tennessee lilt to the mix.
  — Jon Freeman, Rolling Stone, 2 July 2021
• On the album, Mr. Sosa ornaments the space around Mr. Keita’s playing with lilting undercurrents and deftly studded terrain.
  — New York Times, 15 Mar. 2018
• Friedman has matched that sensibility here with songs that slide from lilting, gaslight-era melodiousness into a jagged, more contemporary anxiety.
  — Ben Brantley, New York Times, 9 Mar. 2020
• With his insatiable interest in pop culture, lilting accent and personality that's equal parts innocence and ignorance, Hank offers energetic comic relief in an increasingly dark comedy.
  — Bill Keveney, USA TODAY, 26 Apr. 2018
• Jones speaks in a deep baritone, her Robeson County lilt adding bounce and verve to the words.
  — Isabel Spiegel, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Oct. 2020
• The strings lilt and wail until Zauner begins shredding, like the notes can’t come out of her fast enough.
  — Justin Curto, Vulture, 4 June 2021
• The messages were often encoded to fool the censors; Mr. Bosco’s lilting tunes and rhythms made every song seem to float.
  — James Gavin, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2017
• On some days inside that glitzy office, the soundtrack to his view is Spotify, lilting Grateful Dead music.
  — Dana Benbow, Indianapolis Star, 4 Jan. 2018
• Kitty’s voice is also much deeper and more powerful compared to Watson’s lilting, airy singing heard on the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack.
  — Ariana Brockington, refinery29.com, 5 Mar. 2020
• With her long blonde hair, lilting soprano and acoustic guitar, the enduring image of the singer-songwriter icon is one that dates back to the late ‘60s or early ‘70s.
  — Maeve McDermott, USA TODAY, 27 Oct. 2017
• But in the main guesthouse Tuesday, lilting reggae wafted through the open air bar, as government relief workers tapped away on laptops.
  — Richard Fausset, New York Times, 3 Oct. 2017
• The witty script glitters with the couple’s duelling voice-over accounts of the way things happened; the effervescent score, by André Previn, seems to set their voices to lilting music as if in a virtual operetta.
  — The New Yorker, 2 Apr. 2020
• And so many of his ideas are inspired, like adding the forlorn country lilt of an accordionist (Veli Kujala) to the scene in which Hamlet corrals a traveling troupe of actors to put on an evocation of his father’s murder.
  — New York Times, 15 May 2022
• With her band members backing her up, Ballerini shows her voice to be well-suited for the song, never exactly imitating the rock icon’s inflections but instead adding a bit of her own East Tennessee lilt to the mix.
  — Jon Freeman, Rolling Stone, 2 July 2021
• On the album, Mr. Sosa ornaments the space around Mr. Keita’s playing with lilting undercurrents and deftly studded terrain.
  — New York Times, 15 Mar. 2018
• Friedman has matched that sensibility here with songs that slide from lilting, gaslight-era melodiousness into a jagged, more contemporary anxiety.
  — Ben Brantley, New York Times, 9 Mar. 2020
• With his insatiable interest in pop culture, lilting accent and personality that's equal parts innocence and ignorance, Hank offers energetic comic relief in an increasingly dark comedy.
  — Bill Keveney, USA TODAY, 26 Apr. 2018

Last Updated: 5 Sep 2024