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cadence - 6 dictionary results

ca⋅dence

  [keyd-ns] noun, verb, -denced, -denc⋅ing.
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–noun Also, cadency.
1. rhythmic flow of a sequence of sounds or words: the cadence of language.
2. (in free verse) a rhythmic pattern that is nonmetrically structured.
3. the beat, rate, or measure of any rhythmic movement: The chorus line danced in rapid cadence.
4. the flow or rhythm of events, esp. the pattern in which something is experienced: the frenetic cadence of modern life.
5. a slight falling in pitch of the voice in speaking or reading, as at the end of a declarative sentence.
6. the general modulation of the voice.
7. Music. a sequence of notes or chords that indicates the momentary or complete end of a composition, section, phrase, etc.
–verb (used with object)
8. to make rhythmical.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME < MF < It cadenza; see cadenza

Synonyms:
3. tempo, pulse, rhythm, meter.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ca·dence   (kād'ns)   
n.   pl. ca·denc·es
  1. Balanced, rhythmic flow, as of poetry or oratory.
  2. The measure or beat of movement, as in dancing or marching.
    1. A falling inflection of the voice, as at the end of a sentence.
    2. General inflection or modulation of the voice.
  4. Music A progression of chords moving to a harmonic close, point of rest, or sense of resolution.

[Middle English, from Old French *cadence, from Old Italian cadenza, from Vulgar Latin *cadentia, a falling, from Latin cadēns, cadent-, present participle of cadere, to fall; see kad- in Indo-European roots.]
ca'denced adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cadence

Ca"dence\, n. [OE. cadence, cadens, LL. cadentia a falling, fr. L. cadere to fall; cf. F. cadence, It. cadenza. See Chance.]

1. The act or state of declining or sinking. [Obs.]

Now was the sun in western cadence low. --Milton.

2. A fall of the voice in reading or speaking, especially at the end of a sentence.

3. A rhythmical modulation of the voice or of any sound; as, music of bells in cadence sweet.

Blustering winds, which all night long Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull Seafaring men o'erwatched. --Milton.

The accents . . . were in passion's tenderest cadence. --Sir W. Scott.

4. Rhythmical flow of language, in prose or verse.

Golden cadence of poesy. --Shak.

If in any composition much attention was paid to the flow of the rhythm, it was said (at least in the 14th and 15th centuries) to be "prosed in faire cadence." --Dr. Guest.

5. (Her.) See Cadency.

6. (Man.) Harmony and proportion in motions, as of a well-managed horse.

7. (Mil.) A uniform time and place in marching.

8. (Mus.) (a) The close or fall of a strain; the point of rest, commonly reached by the immediate succession of the tonic to the dominant chord. (b) A cadenza, or closing embellishment; a pause before the end of a strain, which the performer may fill with a flight of fancy.

Imperfect cadence. (Mus.) See under Imperfect.

Cadence

Ca"dence\, v. t. To regulate by musical measure.

These parting numbers, cadenced by my grief. --Philips.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : cadence
Spanish: melodía, ritmo,
German: fröhliche Weise,
Japanese: 活発なリズム
More Translations »

cadence 
c.1384, "flow of rhythm in verse or music," from M.Fr. cadence, O.It. cadenza "conclusion of a movement in music," lit. "a falling," from V.L. *cadentia, from L. cadens prp. of cadere "to fall" (see case (1)). In 16c., sometimes used literally for "an act of falling." The It. form cadenza was borrowed 1836 as a musical term for "ornamental passage near the close of a song or solo."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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cadence

in music, the ending of a phrase, perceived as a rhythmic or melodic articulation or a harmonic change or all of these; in a larger sense, a cadence may be a demarcation of a half-phrase, of a section of music, or of an entire movement

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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