syncopation

[ sing-kuh-pey-shuh n, sin- ]

/ ˌsɪŋ kəˈpeɪ ʃən, ˌsɪn- /

noun

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

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

Also called counterpoint, counterpoint rhythm. 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.

Grammar. syncope.

Nearby words

synclonus, syncom, syncopal, syncopate, syncopated, syncopation, syncope, syncopic, syncretism, syncretize, syncrisis

Origin of syncopation

1525–35; < Medieval Latin syncopātiōn- (stem of syncopātiō), equivalent to Late Latin syncopāt(us) (see syncopate) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms

non·syn·co·pa·tion, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for syncopation

Kluge accepts gutturalizing of a palatal c before a consonant where this position is the result of syncopation of a palatal vowel.
Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch|George Tobias Flom
His heart beat with syncopation when he rose at the first note of music.
What Will People Say?|Rupert Hughes
The typical Hawaiian rhythm is a measure of four beats, varied at times by a 2-rhythm, or changed by syncopation into a 3-rhythm.
Unwritten Literature of Hawaii|Nathaniel Bright Emerson
It is the very kernel of the art of Paul Cézanne; rhythmic irregularity, syncopation, asymmetry.
Unicorns|James Huneker

In verse also syncopation frequently occurs, though it is seldom recognized except as an 'irregularity.'
The Principles of English Versification|Paull Franklin Baum

British Dictionary definitions for syncopation

syncopation

/ (ˌsɪŋkəˈpeɪʃən) /

noun

music

the displacement of the usual rhythmic accent away from a strong beat onto a weak beat
a note, beat, rhythm, etc, produced by syncopation

another word for syncope (def. 2)

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