00:10
00:09
00:08
00:07
00:06
00:05
00:04
00:03
00:02
00:01
| chief in importance |
| agreement in direction, tendency, or character |
Related forms
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
paraphrase
Cite This Source
paraphrase definition
A restatement of speech or writing that retains the basic meaning while changing the words. A paraphrase often clarifies the original statement by putting it into words that are more easily understood.
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
paraphrase
in music, the appropriation of a phrase, melody, section, or entire piece for use in another, favoured especially during the Renaissance for masses and motets as well as for keyboard works. The original melody is not generally used as it appeared in its original context but rather is altered by interpolating new notes, by changing the rhythm or the melodic contour, or by condensing or elaborating melodic passages. A paraphrased melody may appear in one voice part of the new composition, as in the motet Alma redemptoris mater (Beloved Mother of the Redeemer) by Guillaume Dufay, or in all voice parts through the technique of melodic imitation, as in the Missa pange lingua (mass on the plainsong hymn "Pange lingua" ["Sing, My Tongue"]) by Josquin des Prez.
Learn more about paraphrase with a free trial on Britannica.com.
Cite This Source
