Cadence

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkeɪ.dn̩s/

Definitions

1. A pattern of rhythm and intonation that influences speech and music
2. The natural rhythm or beat found in speech or music ; a chord progression or melodic pattern signaling the conclusion of a phrase in music
3. A regular, patterned movement of sounds or words over time ; a musical closure formed by a specific combination of notes at the end of a segment

Etymology: Cadence began as a physical image: the Latin verb "cadere" meant "to fall," and its present participle "cadens" gave rise to "cadentia," literally "a falling." The word first travelled into French and then Italian, where "cadenza" came to name the closing turn of a phrase in music, the moment a melody settles down to rest. English borrowed the word from Middle French, and the sense of falling notes carried over into a broader idea of a rhythmic pattern, the way a voice rises and drops through a sentence. Speech and verse came to be described in the same terms as music, so a cadence is now the measured rise and fall of spoken language rather than a literal tumble. Cadence is a doublet of "cadenza" and "chance," all three descended from the same Latin root but reaching English by different routes. "Chance" arrived through Old French as a general word for what happens by fortune, while the musical and rhythmic senses stayed closer to the original image of something falling.

Synonyms: rhythm, flow, beat

Antonyms: disorder, irregularity