CHANT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does chant mean? 

• CHANT (noun)
  The noun CHANT has 1 sense:

1. a repetitive song in which as many syllables as necessary are assigned to a single tone

  Familiarity information: CHANT used as a noun is very rare.

• CHANT (verb)
  The verb CHANT has 2 senses:

1. recite with musical intonation; recite as a chant or a psalm

2. utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically

  Familiarity information: CHANT used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHANT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A repetitive song in which as many syllables as necessary are assigned to a single tone

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("chant" is a kind of...):

religious song (religious music for singing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "chant"):

plainchant; plainsong ((Roman Catholic Church) a liturgical chant consisting of a single, unaccompanied melodic line)

cantus firmus (a pre-existing melody used as the basis for a polyphonic composition; originally drawn from plainchant, but later drawn from other sources)

Instance hyponyms:

Hallel ((Judaism) a chant of praise (Psalms 113 through 118) used at Passover and Shabuoth and Sukkoth and Hanukkah and Rosh Hodesh)

Hare Krishna (a chant to the Hindu god Krishna)

Derivation:

chant (recite with musical intonation; recite as a chant or a psalm)

chant (utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically)

• CHANT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they chant    ... he / she / it chants   
Past simple: chanted   
Past participle: chanted   
-ing form: chanting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Recite with musical intonation; recite as a chant or a psalm

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

cantillate; chant; intonate; intone

Context example:

The rabbi chanted a prayer

Hypernyms (to "chant" is one way to...):

sing (produce tones with the voice)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "chant"):

singsong (speak, chant, or declaim in a singsong)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They will chant the duet

Derivation:

chant (a repetitive song in which as many syllables as necessary are assigned to a single tone)

chanter (reed pipe with finger holes on which the melody is played)

chanting (the act of singing in a monotonous tone)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

chant; intone; tone

Context example:

The students chanted the same slogan over and over again

Hypernyms (to "chant" is one way to...):

mouth; speak; talk; utter; verbalise; verbalize (express in speech)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue chant

Derivation:

chant (a repetitive song in which as many syllables as necessary are assigned to a single tone)

 Context examples 

Thanks being returned for what we had not got, and a second hymn chanted, the refectory was evacuated for the schoolroom.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Behind me as I passed from the flat I heard Holmes’s high, thin voice in some delirious chant.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Why could he not chant that, too, as the poets did?

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

From the camp came the faint sound of many voices, rising and falling in a sing-song chant.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Hagar, the witch, chanted an awful incantation over her kettleful of simmering toads, with weird effect.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Pulling off his cap, and clasping his hands, he chanted in a shrill voice: “Benedictus dominus Deus meus, qui docet manus meas ad proelium, et digitos meos ad bellum.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Not in a day could he learn to chant in noble verse.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Every night, regularly, at nine, at twelve, at three, they lifted a nocturnal song, a weird and eerie chant, in which it was Buck’s delight to join.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Here an ancient monastery, whence the solemn chanting of the monks came down to them.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Then at the end of the verse the scourge changed hands and the chanting began anew.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)