syncopation
Americannoun
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Music. a shifting of the normal accent, usually by stressing the normally unaccented beats.
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something, as a rhythm or a passage of music, that is syncopated.
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Also called counterpoint rhythm. Also called counterpoint. Prosody. the use of rhetorical stress at variance with the metrical stress of a line of verse, as the stress on and and of in Come praise Colonus' horses and come praise/The wine-dark of the wood's intricacies.
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Grammar. syncope.
noun
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music
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the displacement of the usual rhythmic accent away from a strong beat onto a weak beat
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a note, beat, rhythm, etc, produced by syncopation
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another word for syncope
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of syncopation
1525–35; < Medieval Latin syncopātiōn- (stem of syncopātiō ), equivalent to Late Latin syncopāt ( us ) ( see syncopate) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
If no one's dancing at the school dance, it might be time to ask the DJ to play some music with more syncopation, or a strong, distinct rhythm that makes you want to move. Jazz is the musical genre best known for syncopation, using rhythm and beats in unexpected ways to make exciting, finger-snapping music. Syncopation has been around for a lot longer than that, though — it pops up in works by Bach and Mozart, for example.
Vocabulary lists containing syncopation
Curtain Call: Dance and Theater Terms
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Music - Middle School
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Music - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Bart�k, a precise, percussive pianist, was to play pieces with titles like From the Diary of a Fly, Syncopation, From the Island of Bali, from his Mikrokosmos, which was published last week.*
From Time Magazine Archive
He has also made concert tours, taught singing, had a key spot in Broadway's Cabin in the Sky, floundered through a jive film called Syncopation.
From Time Magazine Archive
Syncopation is one way to liven things up.
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
Figure 1.70: Syncopation is one of the most important elements in ragtime music, as illustrated in this example from Scott Joplin's Peacherine Rag.
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
Syncopation — Syncopation occurs when a strong note happens either on a weak beat or off the beat.
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
