rhythm
movement or procedure with uniform or patterned recurrence of a beat, accent, or the like.
Music.
the pattern of regular or irregular pulses caused in music by the occurrence of strong and weak melodic and harmonic beats: She taught us the song, tapping out the rhythm for us on the table.
a particular form of this: duple rhythm; triple rhythm.
measured movement, as in dancing.
Art, Literature. a patterned repetition of a motif, formal element, etc., at regular or irregular intervals in the same or a modified form: I loved the pattern and rhythm of her story, with the repeating line about ancestors being proud of her actions.
the effect produced in a play, film, novel, etc., by the combination or arrangement of formal elements, as length of scenes, speech and description, timing, or recurrent themes, to create movement, tension, and emotional value in the development of the plot.
Prosody.
a particular kind of metrical form: Iambic rhythm has been the principal mode of English poetry since Chaucer.
metrical movement.
the pattern of recurrent strong and weak accents, vocalization and silence, and the distribution and combination of these elements in speech.
Physiology. the regular recurrence of an action or function, as of the beat of the heart, or the menstrual cycle: Waking up at the same time each day is good for your circadian rhythm—your 24-hour "body clock."
procedure marked by the regular recurrence of particular elements, phases, etc.: the rhythm of the seasons.
regular recurrence of elements in a system of motion.
Origin of rhythm
1Other words for rhythm
Other words from rhythm
- rhythm·less, adjective
- non·rhythm, noun
Words that may be confused with rhythm
- rhyme, rhythm
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use rhythm in a sentence
Bright light is what keeps our circadian rhythms in good order.
Fight Seasonal Affective Disorder With This New Tracker | DailyBurn | November 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe steady, entrancing rhythms are a well-established motif in dramatizations of the American war in Vietnam.
Jim Campbell: Rhythms of Perception is on display at the Museum of Moving Image in Astoria until June 15.
Art Goes High-Tech at These Four Innovative Exhibits | Justin Jones | May 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTYou would need to go back to the 19th century to find rhythms in popular music with so little syncopation.
But when whole careers are now staked on micro-sized melodies and formulaic rhythms, the lawsuits are bound to proliferate.
Rarely indeed are his rhythms uniform, while they frequently shift from line to line.
Strange involuntary rhythms swung through my spirit and body.
Tramping on Life | Harry KempThe latter is a composition of the literary German with dialectic forms, and his rhythms are halting, his ideas one-sided.
Everything she heard wandered off into melodies, melted into harmonies, divided itself up into rhythms.
The Devourers | Annie Vivanti ChartresOf course scales must be carefully studied, with various accents, rhythms and tonal dynamics; arpeggios also.
Piano Mastery | Harriette Brower
British Dictionary definitions for rhythm
/ (ˈrɪðəm) /
the arrangement of the relative durations of and accents on the notes of a melody, usually laid out into regular groups (bars) of beats, the first beat of each bar carrying the stress
any specific arrangement of such groupings; time: quadruple rhythm
(in poetry)
the arrangement of words into a more or less regular sequence of stressed and unstressed or long and short syllables
any specific such arrangement; metre
(in painting, sculpture, architecture, etc) a harmonious sequence or pattern of masses alternating with voids, of light alternating with shade, of alternating colours, etc
any sequence of regularly recurring functions or events, such as the regular recurrence of certain physiological functions of the body, as the cardiac rhythm of the heartbeat
Origin of rhythm
1Derived forms of rhythm
- rhythmless, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for rhythm
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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