How to Use lyre in a Sentence

lyre

noun
  • Add a miniature harp or lyre to complete the vision.
    — Ella Cerón, Parents, 16 Sep. 2025
  • Other paintings bring to mind a lyre and a yoke or a helmet and a trident.
    — Roberta Smith, Karen Rosenberg, Will Heinrich and Martha Schwendener, New York Times, 29 Dec. 2016
  • Beside them were the remains of a musician who held a stunning lyre.
    — National Geographic, 22 May 2019
  • Apollo is holding a lyre and Venus is naked, painting on a canvas.
    — Mercedes Leguizamon and Brandon Griggs, CNN, 2 Apr. 2018
  • The sculpture of a girl with lyre and the portrait medallion are by Auguste Clésinger.
    — Liesl Bradner, Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2019
  • The lyre was infused with magic, powerful enough to charm people and even inanimate objects like trees, streams, and rocks.
    — Ineye Komonibo, refinery29.com, 3 Sep. 2020
  • In Greek mythology, the lyre was the first instrument ever created.
    — Ineye Komonibo, refinery29.com, 3 Sep. 2020
  • So imagine the scandal when the emperor himself, the ruler of the known world, climbed onto a stage with a lyre in his hands, singing, reciting, performing for hours.
    — Chris Schembra, Rolling Stone, 8 Sep. 2025
  • Terpsichore Terpsichore is the Muse of dance and choral song, often depicted with a lyre or dancing shoes.
    — Ryan Brennan, Kansas City Star, 20 Jan. 2025
  • The hills of Olympus have never been more than a few strums of the lyre away from the stages of the theater, but lately the mist of mythology has seemed particularly thick.
    — Washington Post, 5 Dec. 2021
  • One lyre-like instrument from Central Africa features a resonator fashioned from an actual human skull.
    — Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 7 Oct. 2022
  • In the painting, Apollo is holding a lyre while Venus, the goddess of love, is portrayed as an artist painting a landscape, her fleshy backside exposed.
    — Laura M. Holson, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2018
  • The lyre’s mournful throb was also heard whenever the Dolphins’ starting quarterback, Josh Rosen, touched the ball.
    — Jody Rosen, The New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2019
  • The other is an image of the lyre and the head of the Greek god of music, Orpheus, who according to myth, continues to produce music after his death.
    — Steven Litt, cleveland, 3 Oct. 2021
  • Chaos strikes during a rave when Hard Rock Trolls try to take over the world, and Poppy learns of the six magical lyre strings that once united the musical tribes.
    — Keith Langston, Peoplemag, 14 Nov. 2023
  • In Greek mythology, Orpheus, who reclaimed his dearest Eurydice from the underworld, played her a love song on his lyre, causing an elm grove to grow on the spot.
    — National Geographic, 22 Apr. 2016
  • Also among the discoveries from the shipwrecks was a red gemstone engraved with a tiny image of a lyre, reports Amy Spiro for the Times of Israel.
    — Livia Gershon, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Dec. 2021
  • Kids ages 5-12 can handle replica artifacts, such as an abacus, armor and lyre, and learn how professional archeologists make inferences.
    — Jennifer Day, Chicago Tribune, 19 Feb. 2026
  • There’s no evidence of this maniacal lyre-playing, but historians today still debate whether Nero orchestrated the disaster.
    — Adrienne Lafrance, The Atlantic, 17 June 2017
  • The scrolled feet, together with the lyre and wreath decoration, suggest to me that this lamp embraces the Arts and Crafts ideal while not quite abandoning the decorative elements of earlier pieces.
    — Jane Alexiadis, The Mercury News, 19 Apr. 2017
  • Tiny samples yield big results One of the most captivating finds in the Prittlewell burial was the remains of a lyre - the first complete Anglo-Saxon example that's ever been found.
    — Roff Smith, National Geographic, 8 May 2019
  • Having profitably played his lyre in Weinstein’s court for a quarter of a century, the director Quentin Tarantino kept his counsel for a couple of weeks before confirming that, yes, this really is how things are done.
    — Kyle Smith, National Review, 24 Oct. 2017
  • In most versions of the source myth, Orpheus is an artist/hero, strapping on his lyre like an AK-47 and charging into the mouth of hell to rescue his beloved wife Eurydice with a fusillade of irresistible music.
    — Justin Davidson, Vulture, 24 Nov. 2021
  • In the corner of three-time Academy Award–winning composer Ludwig Göransson’s studio sits a lyre nearly the size of a grown man, one room over from a ping-pong table that, at the push of a button, disappears into the floor.
    — Eliana Dockterman, Time, 12 May 2026
  • Based on the Moonwatch legend, the 42 mm case with classic lyre lugs looks remarkably similar to its ’60s namesake, while the manual wind Co-axial 3861 caliber would do a more accurate job of timing booster rockets.
    — Thor Svaboe, Robb Report, 28 Aug. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lyre.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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