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Synonyms

coda

1 American  
[koh-duh] / ˈkoʊ də /

noun

  1. Music. a more or less independent passage, at the end of a composition, introduced to bring it to a satisfactory close.

  2. Ballet. the concluding section of a ballet, especially the final part of a pas de deux.

  3. a concluding section or part, especially one of a conventional form and serving as a summation of preceding themes, motifs, etc., as in a work of literature or drama.

  4. anything that serves as a concluding part.

  5. Phonetics. the segment of a syllable following the nucleus, as the d- sound in good.

CODA 2 American  
[koh-duh] / ˈkoʊ də /

abbreviation

  1. child of deaf adultadults: a hearing person with a deaf parent or parents.

coda British  
/ ˈkəʊdə /

noun

  1. music the final, sometimes inessential, part of a musical structure

  2. a concluding part of a literary work, esp a summary at the end of a novel of further developments in the lives of the characters

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
coda Cultural  

  1. An ending to a piece of music, standing outside the formal structure of the piece. Coda is the Italian word for “tail.”

Etymology

Origin of coda1

First recorded in 1745–55; from Italian, from Latin cauda “tail”; queue

Origin of CODA2

First recorded in 1990–95

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.

But now this one act of pure showmanship has become the electrifying coda of Malinin’s programs as he stakes his claim as the greatest figure skater of all time.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 10, 2026

In a fitting coda, a torrential downpour in the final session -- "the wonderful noise of an Amazon rain," in Correa do Lago's words -- left parts of the carpet soaked.

From Barron's • Nov. 22, 2025

It’s safe to say that Cuomo did not wrap up this bizarre and embarrassing coda to his political career with grace.

From Salon • Nov. 4, 2025

A coda at the end of “The Smashing Machine” shows the real Mark Kerr grocery shopping in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 2025.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 3, 2025

The advertising agency and the tobacco company were delighted by the unpaid publicity and were only too happy to confess to the error in the coda, “What do you want, good grammar or good taste?”

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

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.