syncopation

[ sing-kuh-pey-shuhn, sin- ]

/ ˌsɪŋ kəˈpeɪ ʃən, ˌsɪn- /

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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.

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Origin of syncopation

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

OTHER WORDS FROM syncopation

non·syn·co·pa·tion, noun

Words nearby syncopation

synclonus, Syncom, syncopal, syncopate, syncopated, syncopation, syncope, syncopic, syncretic, syncretism, syncretize

How to use syncopation in a sentence

Instead, the Meters strutted, turning down the volume and finding unlikely, hip-turning melodies in complex syncopations.
Leo Nocentelli’s long-lost folk-funk album sees the light of day, 50 years later|John Lingan|November 19, 2021|Washington Post
You would need to go back to the 19th century to find rhythms in popular music with so little syncopation.
Did Led Zeppelin Steal ‘Stairway to Heaven’?|Ted Gioia|May 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The result is an effect of syncopation which is peculiarly forceful.
How to Listen to Music, 7th ed.|Henry Edward Krehbiel
The purpose of the time step is to get the syncopation into the dancing step, and establish the "tempo" of the dance.
The Art of Stage Dancing|Ned Wayburn

He moved slowly, painfully, one leg striking the pavement in syncopation, for it was sadly crippled by disease.
Melomaniacs|James Huneker
The rhythm may be said to be a sort of spite-rhythm, very decisive in most cases, but most of the time in syncopation.
Franz Liszt|James Huneker
Suggested by the poster commending a recent Revue as "the last word in syncopation."
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, January 5, 1916|Various

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