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mora

[ mawr-uh, mohr-uh ]
/ ˈmɔr ə, ˈmoʊr ə /
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See synonyms for mora on Thesaurus.com
noun, plural mo·rae [mawr-ee, mohr-ee], /ˈmɔr i, ˈmoʊr i/, mo·ras.Prosody.
the unit of time equivalent to the ordinary or normal short sound or syllable.
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Origin of mora

1560–70; <Latin: delay, hence, space of time
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to mora

feet, cadence, cadency, lilt, measure, music, pattern, poetry, rhyme, structure, swing

How to use mora in a sentence

  • As the king approached the morae, some of his own followers even drew back, and formed a knot at a distance.

    The Cruise of the Mary Rose|William H. G. Kingston

  • Thus it distinguishes only three morae in the syllable om, and not yet three and a half.

    A History of Sanskrit Literature|Arthur A. MacDonell

British Dictionary definitions for mora

mora
/ (ˈmɔːrə) /
noun plural -rae (-riː) or -ras
prosody the quantity of a short syllable in verse represented by the breve (˘)

Word Origin for mora

C16: from Latin: pause
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
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