How to Use percussive in a Sentence

percussive

adjective
  • The song had a punchy, percussive rhythm.
  • His eyes lit up while his tail rapped out a percussive rhythm.
    — Michael Pomerantz, cleveland, 29 Apr. 2021
  • Smith can play with a percussive thrust or a gentle airy feel.
    — Courant Staff, courant.com, 9 July 2018
  • There are churning, airy blasts that have a kind of percussive force.
    — John Adamian, courant.com, 30 Aug. 2017
  • If the whole song had been percussive like that, the chorus wouldn’t have stood out.
    — Justin Curto, Vulture, 12 Dec. 2024
  • He has long been hailed for his intense grooves and percussive mastery.
    — George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 July 2022
  • Gabriel played the clarinet to the rhythm of the percussive parade.
    — Melinda Morris, NOLA.com, 7 Feb. 2018
  • By then the music has changed too, with a thumping, percussive sound.
    — Caryn James, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Sep. 2023
  • But the best proof of her reclusiveness is in her saw-toothed, percussive show tunes.
    — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 17 Apr. 2020
  • The pianist had a breezy feel in his right hand countered by percussive, modal chords in his left.
    — Marc Myers, WSJ, 5 Nov. 2018
  • Cox plays a Juno synth bass on the song while his son, George, plays percussive bass.
    — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 24 June 2026
  • The payoff for all that effort was a percussive essay rich in melody as well as drive.
    — New York Times, 7 Apr. 2022
  • The foot stomps are one of the only percussive elements in this movie.
    — Vulture, 27 July 2023
  • The sound of it allows space for the percussive quality of tap.
    — Sasha Weiss, New York Times, 10 May 2018
  • These large boulders are covered in percussive marks from thousands of years of use.
    — Trevor Cox, National Geographic, 31 July 2019
  • The percussive plugs are great for shooting sports, explosions, and sharp loud noise.
    — James Lynch, Popular Mechanics, 19 Oct. 2018
  • In ‘Gangsters,’ there’s a mad percussive synth riff that comes into that.
    — Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 9 Apr. 2025
  • The foot stomps are one of the only percussive elements that keep coming back in to this movie.
    — Vulture, 27 July 2023
  • The muffled, percussive sounds of the firing range could be heard through the walls, and my body tensed with every pop.
    — Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 16 Sep. 2025
  • Each sculpture also has a hole on one side, to be played as a percussive instrument.
    — Christina Catherine Martinez, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2022
  • Among all the percussive massage guns in this roundup, this one boasts the best battery life with up to seven hours of use.
    — Kate Addicott, Forbes, 21 June 2021
  • The tool that dug into my rearmost molar’s pulp chamber shook my jaw with a percussive chug.
    — Washington Post, 30 Oct. 2021
  • There were cheers and claps for an audio glitch that filled the arena with repetitive percussive shots.
    — Ethan Davison, Washington Post, 15 July 2022
  • This results in percussive sounds of body parts clapping against one another and the ground.
    — Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2026
  • Much is made of trombone slides, and there are a couple of percussive explosions.
    — Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 10 Jan. 2020
  • King’s anger became the percussive partner to his more famous hope — and to his sorrow.
    — Richard Lischer, Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2018
  • The writing is taut, with a percussive, rhythmic undertow that pulls you right in.
    — Riza Cruz, ELLE, 23 Feb. 2022
  • The clacking rattle of steel wheels on steel rails creates a lulling percussive soundtrack.
    — Patricia Harris and David Lyon, BostonGlobe.com, 7 Sep. 2023
  • The lively rhythms of the street follow the percussive beat of cumbia, the thump of reggaeton, the call to prayer.
    — New York Times, 3 Dec. 2020
  • Sounds from the Linn were shot through the Fairlight and sequenced into percussive melodies.
    — Andy Cush, Pitchfork, 15 Feb. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'percussive.' 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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