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Webster 1913 Edition


Syncopation

Synˊco-pa′tion

,
Noun.
1.
(Gram.)
The act of syncopating; the contraction of a word by taking one or more letters or syllables from the middle; syncope.
2.
(Mus.)
The act of syncopating; a peculiar figure of rhythm, or rhythmical alteration, which consists in welding into one tone the second half of one beat with the first half of the beat which follows.

Webster 1828 Edition


Syncopation

SYNCOPA'TION

,
Noun.
The contraction of a word by taking a letter, letters or a syllable from the middle.
1.
In music, an interruption of the regular measure; an inversion of the order of notes; a prolonging of a note begun on the unaccented part of a bar, to the accented part of the next bar; also, a driving note, when a shorter note at the beginning of a measure is followed by two or more longer notes before another short note occurs, equal to that which occasioned the driving, to make the number even.

Definition 2024


syncopation

syncopation

English

Noun

syncopation (usually uncountable, plural syncopations)

  1. (music) The quality of a rhythm being somehow unexpected, in that it deviates from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak beats in a meter
  2. (phonology) The loss of sounds in the middle of a word.

Derived terms

  • syncopational
  • syncopationally

Related terms

Translations