cadence
/ˈkeɪ̯dəns/ noun C2- The act or state of declining or sinking.
- The measure or beat of movement.
- Balanced, rhythmic flow.
- The general inflection or modulation of the voice, or of any sound.
- A progression of at least two chords which conclude a piece of music, section or musical phrases within it. Sometimes referred to analogously as musical punctuation.
- A cadenza, or closing embellishment; a pause before the end of a strain, which the performer may fill with a flight of fancy.
- A fall in inflection of a speaker’s voice, such as at the end of a sentence.
- A dance move which ends a phrase. · The cadence in a galliard step refers to the final leap in a cinquepace sequence.
Plural cadences
From the library
The professional translator knows that something will inevitably be lost in the transition, whether it is a subtle double meaning or a particular cadence.
He listened intently to the distinctive dialects, the boastful tall tales, and the intricate folklore that permeated the decks, absorbing the rhythmic cadences of authentic American speech.
Settlers arrived from London, Ireland, Scotland, and diverse English counties, each carrying their own regional cadences and highly specific colloquialisms.
Every choice of adjective, every subtle shift in cadence, bore the unmistakable fingerprint of her own deeply ingrained literary sensibilities.
Other matches
Learn cadence in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.