rag·time

[rag-tahym]
noun Music.
1.
rhythm in which the accompaniment is strict two-four time and the melody, with improvised embellishments, is in steady syncopation.
2.
a style of American music having this rhythm, popular from about 1890 to 1915.

Origin:
1895–1900; probably rag(ged) + time

rag·time·y, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged

Rag·time

[rag-tahym]
noun
a novel (1975) by E. L. Doctorow.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To ragtime
00:10
Ragtime is always a great word to know.
So is callithumpian. Does it mean:
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
Collins
World English Dictionary
ragtime (ˈræɡˌtaɪm) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
a style of jazz piano music, developed by Scott Joplin around 1900, having a two-four rhythm base and a syncopated melody
 
[C20: probably from ragged + time]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

ragtime
"syncopated, jazzy piano music," 1897 (in song title "Mississippi Rag" by W.H. Krell), from rag "dance ball (1895, Amer.Eng. dialect), possibly a shortening of ragged, in reference to the rhythmic imbalance.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

ragtime definition


A style of early jazz music written largely for the piano in the early twentieth century, characterized by jaunty rhythms and a whimsical mood.

Note: Scott Joplin was a famous composer and performer of ragtime.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Example sentences
The popularity and demand for ragtime also boosted sales of pianos and greatly swelled the ranks of the recording industry.
The songs in the musical and the movie-jazz, ragtime, the torch song-were sung directly to the audience.
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