Borrowed fromMiddle Frenchcadence, fromOld Italiancadenza(“conclusion of a phrase of music”), fromLatin*cadentia(literally“a falling”), form ofcadēns, the present participle ofcadō(“I fall, I cease”). The Latin verb is inherited, viaProto-Italic*kadō, fromProto-Indo-European*ḱad-e-(“to fall”,thematic present).Doublet ofcadenza andchance.
cadence (countable anduncountable,pluralcadences)
- The act or state ofdeclining orsinking.
1667,John Milton, “Book X”, inParadise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […];[a]nd by Robert Boulter […];[a]nd Matthias Walker, […],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […],1873,→OCLC:Now was the sun in westerncadence low.
- Themeasure orbeat of movement.
1993, Ken Schultz, “Terror of the deep”, inField and Stream, volume98, number 5, page102:Getting into a good jigging rhythm means making short quick jerks in a regularcadence that might average about one jerk every 1.5 to 2 seconds.
- Balanced,rhythmic flow.
c.1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene ii]:You find not the apostrophas, and so miss the accent:
let me supervise the canzonet. Here are only numbers ratified;
but, for the elegancy, facility, and goldencadence of poesy,
caret.
1991 December 2, “At the Saudi-Kuwaiti Border”, inABC Nightline:Night has now passed in the Saudi desert and as we hear from Nightline correspondent Forrest Sawyer, the normalcadence of life at the front is about to change.
- The general inflection or modulation of the voice, or of any sound.
1667,John Milton, “Book II”, inParadise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […];[a]nd by Robert Boulter […];[a]nd Matthias Walker, […],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […],1873,→OCLC:Blustering winds, which all night long / Had roused the sea, now with hoarsecadence lull / Seafaring men o'erwatched.
1815 February 24, [Walter Scott],Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume(please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. forLongman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; andArchibald Constable and Co., […],→OCLC:The accents[…] were in passion's tenderestcadence.
1986,John le Carré,A Perfect Spy:Then away at last they sped to the house or bedside of some elderly and worthy person, and Pym sat fascinated to see how swiftly Rick trimmed his manner to suit theirs, how naturally he slipped into thecadences and vernacular that put them most at ease, and how the love of God came into his good face when he talked about Liberalism and Masonry and his dear dead father, God rest him, and a firstclass rate of return, ten percent guaranteed plus profits for as long as you're spared.
1991 December 30, David Holmstrom, “Raimey: A Breath of Fresh Ayah”, inChristian Science Monitor:Thecadence of Raimey's voice is pure Down-Easter Maine
- (music) A progression of at least twochords which conclude a piece ofmusic, section or musical phrases within it. Sometimes referred toanalogously as musicalpunctuation.
- (music) Acadenza, or closing embellishment; a pause before the end of astrain, which the performer may fill with aflight of fancy.
- (speech) A fall ininflection of a speaker’s voice, such as at the end of a sentence.
- (dance) A dance move which ends a phrase.
Thecadence in a galliard step refers to the final leap in a cinquepace sequence.
- (fencing) The rhythm and sequence of a series of actions.
- (running) The number of steps per minute.
- (cycling) The number of revolutions per minute of thecranks or pedals of abicycle.
- (military) A chant that is sung by military personnel while running or marching; ajody call.
- (heraldry)Cadency.
- (horse-riding) Harmony and proportion of movement, as in a well-managedhorse.
- (horseracing) The number of strides per second of a racehorse, measured when the same foot/hoof strikes the ground
- (software engineering) Thefrequency of regular productreleases.
201012, Dean Leffingwell,Agile Software Requirements: Lean Requirements Practices for Teams, Programs, and the Enterprise, Addison-Wesley,→ISBN, page317:In this third case, releasing more frequently, the PSIcadence becomes aplanningcadence, rather than areleasecadence.
2012,Scott Ambler, Mark Lines,Disciplined Agile Delivery: A Practitioner's Guide to Agile Software Delivery in the Enterprise, IBM Press, page227:We recommend aiming for a releasecadence of no more than six months, with a goal of getting it down to three months or shorter.
2016 9, Jaokim Verona, Michael Duffy, Paul Swartout,Learning DevOps: Continuously Develop Better Software, Packt Publishing,→ISBN, page47:This happens when the installationcadence in production is slower than the releasecadence of the development teams.
act, state of declining or sinking
measure or beat of movement
(music) chord progression concluding a section or piece
(music) an embellished cadenza
(fencing) series of actions’ rhythm and sequence
number of steps per minute
(cycling) number of revolutions per minute
(horse-riding) harmony and proportion of movement
(horseracing) number of strides per second
(software engineering) frequency of regular product releases
Translations to be checked
cadence (third-person singular simple presentcadences,present participlecadencing,simple past and past participlecadenced)
- (transitive) To give a cadence to.
1897, Don Carlos Buell, “Why the Confederacy Failed”, inThe Century, volume53:there was besides, in an already dominating and growing element, a motive that was stronger and more enduring than enthusiasm —an implacable antagonism which acted side by side with the cause of the Union as a perpetual impelling force against the social conditions of the South, controlling the counsels of the government, andcadencing the march of its armies to the chorus:
John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave,
But his soul is marching on!
1910,Publication: Illinois State Historical Society, Illinois State Historical Library, number14, page182:In this march to theCity of the Dead,'" scores upon scores of the best musical organizations of the nation were in line, whose funeral dirgescadenced the great wail of a bereft people.
1990, Lewis Lockwood with Edward H. Roesner,Essays in musicology: a tribute to Alvin Johnson, page120:Example 10a gives a melody for one endecasyllabic line of verse; there are various ways of utilizing it, including Rore's choice ofcadencing the first line on the third scale degree, for a two-line segment of an ottava stanza.
- (transitive) To give structure to.
1966, Joseph Leon Blau,Modern varieties of Judaism, page158:It was the Exile, however, whichcadenced the rhythm of Jewish existence
2000, David C. Hammack,Making the Nonprofit Sector in the United States, page256:They are neither mentioned specifically in the Constitution, nor in the Federalist Papers thatcadenced the nationalist debates.
2004, Andrew Ayers,The architecture of Paris: an architectural guide, page38:... an idea taken up by Percier and Fontaine, who also supplied the Corinthian order and transverse arcadescadencing the gallery's length today
(transitive) to give a cadence to
(transitive) to give structure to
Inherited fromMiddle Frenchcadence, borrowed fromItaliancadenza.Doublet ofchance.
cadence f (pluralcadences)
- cadence
- rate
cadence
- inflection ofcadencer:
- first/third-personsingularpresentindicative/subjunctive
- second-personsingularimperative
