caesural
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cae·su·ra
also ce·su·ra (sĭ-zho͝or′ə, -zo͝or′ə)n. pl. cae·su·ras or cae·su·rae (-zho͝or′ē, -zo͝or′ē) also ce·su·ras or ce·su·rae
1. A pause in a line of verse dictated by sense or natural speech rhythm rather than by metrics.
2. A pause or interruption, as in conversation: After another weighty caesura the senator resumed speaking.
3. In Latin and Greek prosody, a break in a line caused by the ending of a word within a foot, especially when this coincides with a sense division.
4. Music A pause or breathing at a point of rhythmic division in a melody.
[Latin caesūra, a cutting, from caesus, past participle of caedere, to cut off; see kaə-id- in Indo-European roots.]
cae·su′ral, cae·su′ric adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Adj. | 1. | caesural - of or relating to a caesura |
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