What's the difference between descant and obligato?

Descant


Definition:

  • (v. i.) Originally, a double song; a melody or counterpoint sung above the plain song of the tenor; a variation of an air; a variation by ornament of the main subject or plain song.
  • (v. i.) The upper voice in part music.
  • (v. i.) The canto, cantus, or soprano voice; the treble.
  • (v. i.) A discourse formed on its theme, like variations on a musical air; a comment or comments.
  • (v. i.) To sing a variation or accomplishment.
  • (v. i.) To comment freely; to discourse with fullness and particularity; to discourse at large.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Tony Blair added his characteristic descant, adding " We have imbibed deeply of the Olympic spirit … in throwing timidity to the winds we have rediscovered a spirit that is our own ".
  • (2) In a group of cases in which the symptoms had lasted a few months only a displacement towards high frequencies ("descant" displacement) was revealed.
  • (3) Hyperbolic”, sings George, while his friend David does descant, and the massed bands of Fleet Street march into battle.
  • (4) Yet Ukip – from the very beginning – played a racist descant on top of this tune of justifiable grievances.
  • (5) And yet there's a descant in Perth to the major-key optimism that has marked every SNP conference in the last few years.
  • (6) It will certainly bring the contest to succeed Mr Cameron closer – that is the loud descant to everything that is happening among the Tories at Westminster at the moment, as Mr Johnson’s antics demonstrate.
  • (7) Vocal chords will be lubricated with mulled wine and those attempting the dog-whistle Ding Dong descant would do well to consult the pub’s superior malt whisky collection in advance.
  • (8) Unnoticed by anyone, he maintains a gloomy descant ("A dollar is still a lot of money"; "I've suffered from depression all my life"; "I am dubious") to their falsely cheerful exchanges.
  • (9) That's why the opening of the Hockney show has been taking place to a not particularly subtle descant of propaganda and provocation from the great man himself.
  • (10) Indeed, Rona Fairhead, the current chair and once a favoured contributor to George Osborne’s Treasury deliberations, seems as miffed as anyone, while Sir Christopher Bland and Sir Michael Lyons sing transparency’s descant at the back of the chorus.

Obligato


Definition:

  • (a.) See Obbligato.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Spencer called them "a symphony of rashers of bacon" with "tea-making obligato" and said they depict a banality of life which was, for those sent there from the battlefield, a "heaven in a hell of war".

Words possibly related to "obligato"