syncopation

American  

[sing-kuh-pey-shuhn, sin-] / ˌsɪŋ kəˈpeɪ ʃən, ˌsɪn- /

noun

1. Music. a shifting of the normal accent, usually by stressing the normally unaccented beats.

2. something, as a rhythm or a passage of music, that is syncopated.

3. 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.

4. Grammar. syncope.

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syncopation British  

/ ˌsɪŋkəˈpeɪʃən /

noun

1. music

   1. the displacement of the usual rhythmic accent away from a strong beat onto a weak beat

   2. a note, beat, rhythm, etc, produced by syncopation

2. another word for syncope

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Other Word Forms

• nonsyncopation
  noun

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.

Example Sentences

This is bass-heavy dance music, full of funky syncopation and skittering drums, often played by Tom Skinner of jazz band Sons Of Kemet.

From BBC • Mar. 4, 2026

“The thing is, we're just not sure how she thinks about or understands things like meter, syncopation or anything like that.”

From Salon • Jun. 7, 2025

The production is crystal clear, with rumbling bass, percolating syncopation and lovely acoustic guitars in the bridge.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 31, 2024

The music is lean and nimble, with improvisatory guitar filigrees, leaping and slapping bass lines, darting accordion countermelodies and huffing brass-band chords, all delivered with pinpoint syncopation.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2023

In the syncopation in the third measure, the longest note doesn't even begin on a beat; it begins half-way through the third beat.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones