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Cadence is considered most important in which field?

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cadence

American  

[kayd-ns] / ˈkeɪd ns /

noun

• cadences
  plural

1. 

   rhythmic flow of a sequence of sounds or words.

   the cadence of language.

2. (in free verse) a rhythmic pattern that is nonmetrically structured.

3. the beat, rate, or measure of any rhythmic movement.

   The chorus line danced in rapid cadence.

   Synonyms:

   meter, rhythm, pulse, tempo

4. the flow or rhythm of events, especially the pattern in which something is experienced.

   the frenetic cadence of modern life.

5. a slight falling in pitch of the voice in speaking or reading, as at the end of a declarative sentence.

6. the general modulation of the voice.

7. Music. a sequence of notes or chords that indicates the momentary or complete end of a composition, section, phrase, etc.

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verb (used with object)

cadenced, cadencing

1. to make rhythmical.

cadence British  

/ ˈkeɪdəns /

noun

1. the beat or measure of something rhythmic

2. a fall in the pitch of the voice, as at the end of a sentence

3. modulation of the voice; intonation

4. a rhythm or rhythmic construction in verse or prose; measure

5. the close of a musical phrase or section

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cadences
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cadence

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French, from Italian cadenza cadenza

Explanation

The word cadence has its own lovely cadence — rhythm of sound as it's spoken. Cadence has come to mean "the rhythm of sounds" from its root cadere which means "to fall." Originally designating falling tones especially at the end of lines of music or poetry, cadence broadened to mean the rhythms of the tones and sometimes even the rhythm of sounds in general. Think of the cadence of the marching band at a football game or the cadence of the crickets on a warm spring night. You can remember the "fall" idea by thinking of one of the only words that contains it — decadence — which has the prefix de- at the front to mean down, or downfall.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cadence cadences cadenced cadencing

They envision a time when a choreographed and predictable cadence of trucks arrive at stores loaded with pallets of goods needed at that moment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

New DoT rules will make it easier to increase space launch cadence.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

They can be technically proficient, maybe even a little funny, but there is always an underlying cadence of the uncanny valley that I still doubt Suno v6 pro et al. or whatever has totally overcome.

From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026

“I also need to be louder in my cadence because this was my first game in front of a big crowd.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026

Although he speaks softly in the unhurried cadence of the American West, his voice has an edge, and the set of his jaw betrays an undercurrent of nervous energy.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

While the bots are getting slightly better at mimicking human cadences, AI-generated writing still reeks of the sterile laboratory where it originates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 2026

The voices of his protagonists, which is to say the cadences of their social identities, determine not just the sound but the shape of their stories.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2025

He experiments with new tones and cadences; the beats bounce, the production is subdued, but innovative.

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2024

In the stentorian 18th-century cadences of historian Edward Gibbon and essayist Samuel Johnson, he painted a heroic portrait of that nation of shopkeepers and saw Britain’s current troubles in light of its glorious past.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 8, 2024

And the way be sometimes spoke, with unfamiliar cadences and phrases that better fit the style of a turn-of-the-century novel than that of a twenty-first-century classroom.

From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer

No matter how many times I brought it up, Epiphania always gave the same sad answer in her cadenced, Italian accent: "No, you can't buy it! The house is not on the market!"

From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2022

The cadenced distribution of cotton bolls across the picture just over their heads evokes musical notes written on a staff.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2021

Screaming or loud talk does not have the same impact as a slow and measured and cadenced statement where each word sinks to a slightly lower octave.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 18, 2020

With each cadenced step she took, her tail swung to the rhythm of her paws hitting the snow.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 28, 2017

The Jefferson style was fluid, lyrical, cadenced, and melodious.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Listening fearfully, he heard through these a murmurous baritone cadencing: Talbot Potter declaiming the inwardness of "Roderick Hanscom"; and then—oh, bells of Elfland faintly chiming!—the voice of Wanda Malone!

From Harlequin and Columbine by Booth Tarkington

The cadencing of a musical phrase in Hawaiian song was marked by a peculiarity all its own.

From Unwritten Literature of Hawaii The Sacred Songs of the Hula by Nathaniel Bright Emerson

Steadily, lithely, and with never an error the rowers drove through the waves—steadily, and in exact time, their cry arose cadencing each stroke.

From The Prince of India — Volume 01 by Lewis Wallace

The psychology of rhythm shows its basal value in cadencing the soul.

From Youth: Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene by G. Stanley Hall

The six-four chord may be used at the close as the cadencing tonic six-four chord.

From A Treatise on Simple Counterpoint in Forty Lessons by Friedrich Johann Lehmann

Related Words

• accent
• inflection
• intonation
• lilt
• tempo