rhythm

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rhythm

(rĭth′əm)

1. Movement or variation characterized by the regular recurrence or alternation of different quantities or conditions: the rhythm of the tides.

2. The patterned, recurring alternations of contrasting elements of sound or speech.

3. Music

a. The patterning of musical sound, as by differences in the timing, duration, or stress of consecutive notes.

b. A specific kind of such patterning: a waltz rhythm.

c. A group of instruments supplying the rhythm in a band.

a. The pattern or flow of sound created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in accentual verse or of long and short syllables in quantitative verse.

b. The similar but less formal sequence of sounds in prose.

c. A specific kind of metrical pattern or flow: iambic rhythm.

a. The sense of temporal development created in a work of literature or a film by the arrangement of formal elements such as the length of scenes, the nature and amount of dialogue, or the repetition of motifs.

b. A regular or harmonious pattern created by lines, forms, and colors in painting, sculpture, and other visual arts.

6. The pattern of development produced in a literary or dramatic work by repetition of elements such as words, phrases, incidents, themes, images, and symbols.

7. Procedure or routine characterized by regularly recurring elements, activities, or factors: the rhythm of civilization; the rhythm of the lengthy negotiations.

[Latin rhythmus, from Greek rhuthmos; see sreu- in Indo-European roots.]

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.

rhythm

(ˈrɪðəm)

1. (Music, other)

a. the arrangement of the relative durations of and accents on the notes of a melody, usually laid out into regular groups (bars) of beats, the first beat of each bar carrying the stress

b. any specific arrangement of such groupings; time: quadruple rhythm.

2. (Poetry) (in poetry)

a. the arrangement of words into a more or less regular sequence of stressed and unstressed or long and short syllables

b. any specific such arrangement; metre

3. (Art Terms) (in painting, sculpture, architecture, etc) a harmonious sequence or pattern of masses alternating with voids, of light alternating with shade, of alternating colours, etc

4. (Physiology) any sequence of regularly recurring functions or events, such as the regular recurrence of certain physiological functions of the body, as the cardiac rhythm of the heartbeat

[C16: from Latin rhythmus, from Greek rhuthmos; related to rhein to flow]

ˈrhythmless adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

rhythm

(ˈrɪð əm)

n.

1. movement or procedure with uniform or patterned recurrence of a beat, accent, or the like.

a. the pattern of regular or irregular pulses caused in music by the occurrence of strong and weak melodic and harmonic beats.

b. a particular form of this: triple rhythm.

c. rhythm section.

3. measured movement, as in dancing.

4. the pattern of recurrent strong and weak accents, long and short syllables, and vocalization and silence in speech.

5. Pros.

a. metrical or rhythmical form; meter.

b. a particular kind of metrical form.

c. metrical movement.

6. a patterned repetition of a motif, formal element, etc., at regular or irregular intervals in the same or a modified form.

7. Physiol. the regular recurrence of an action or function, as of the beat of the heart or the menstrual cycle.

8. the regular recurrence of particular phases, elements, etc.: the rhythm of the seasons.

9. the regular recurrence of related elements in a progression or other system of motion: the importance of rhythm in film editing.

[1550–60; < Latin rhythmus < Greek rhythmós, akin to rheîn to flow]

rhyth′mic (-mɪk) rhyth′mi•cal, adj.

rhyth′mi•cal•ly, adv.

rhythm

The pattern of stress through verse. Sprung rhythm has one stressed and several unstressed syllables to each foot.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	rhythm - the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music; "the piece has a fast rhythm"; "the conductor set the beat" musical rhythm, beat backbeat - a loud steady beat downbeat - the first beat of a musical measure (as the conductor's arm moves downward) offbeat, upbeat - an unaccented beat (especially the last beat of a measure) syncopation - a musical rhythm accenting a normally weak beat musical time - (music) the beat of musical rhythm
	2.	rhythm - recurring at regular intervals regular recurrence cyclicity, periodicity - the quality of recurring at regular intervals cardiac rhythm, heart rhythm - the rhythm of a beating heart
	3.	rhythm - an interval during which a recurring sequence of events occurs; "the never-ending cycle of the seasons" cycle, round interval, time interval - a definite length of time marked off by two instants phase angle, phase - a particular point in the time of a cycle; measured from some arbitrary zero and expressed as an angle
	4.	rhythm - the arrangement of spoken words alternating stressed and unstressed elements; "the rhythm of Frost's poetry" speech rhythm template, templet, guide - a model or standard for making comparisons prosody, inflection - the patterns of stress and intonation in a language
	5.	rhythm - natural family planning in which ovulation is assumed to occur 14 days before the onset of a period (the fertile period would be assumed to extend from day 10 through day 18 of her cycle) calendar method, calendar method of birth control, rhythm method, rhythm method of birth control natural family planning - any of several methods of family planning that do not involve sterilization or contraceptive devices or drugs; coitus is avoided during the fertile time of a woman's menstrual cycle

rhythm

noun

1. beat, swing, accent, pulse, tempo, cadence, lilt His music fused the rhythms of jazz and classical music.

2. metre, time, measure (Prosody), stress, flow, cadence the rhythm and rhyme inherent in nursery rhymes

3. pattern, movement, flow, periodicity, recurrent nature This is the rhythm of the universe.

Quotations
"It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that Swing" [Duke Ellington song title]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

rhythm

noun

The patterned, recurring alternation of contrasting elements, such as stressed and unstressed notes in music:

beat, cadence, cadency, measure, meter, swing.

Translations

إِيْقاعإيقاع، حَرَكات مُنْتَظَمَهوَزْن

rytmus

rytme

rytmi

ritam

ritmusérzék

rytmi, takturrytmi, taktur, hljóîfalltaktur, rytmi

ritmo

リズム

리듬

ritminisritmiškairitmiškasritmo jausmas

ritem

rytm

จังหวะ

ritimşarkı söyleme yeteneğiahenkdizem

nhịp điệu

节奏节奏感韵律

rhythm

[ˈrɪðəm]

A. N → ritmo m
rhythm and blues (Mus) → rhythm and blues m

B. CPD rhythm guitar N → guitarra f rítmica
rhythm method N [of contraception] → método m de Ogino-Knaus
rhythm section N (Mus) → sección f rítmica

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

rhythm

[ˈrɪðəm] n

[music, movement] → rythme m
to have no sense of rhythm → ne pas avoir le sens du rythme

[seasons, body] → rythme mrhythm and blues n → rhythm and blues m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

rhythm

n → Rhythmus m; the rhythm method (of contraception) → die Knaus-Ogino-Methode; rhythm section (of band) → Rhythmusgruppe f; rhythm and blues → Rhythm-and-Blues m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

rhythm

[ˈrɪð/əm] n → ritmo

rhythm

(ˈriðəm) noun

1. a regular, repeated pattern of sounds, stresses or beats in music, poetry etc. Just listen to the rhythm of those drums; complicated rhythms.

2. a regular, repeated pattern of movements. The rowers lost their rhythm.

3. an ability to sing, move etc with rhythm. That girl has got rhythm.

ˈrhythmic, ˈrhythmical adjective

of or with rhythm. rhythmic movement; The dancing was very rhythmical.

ˈrhythmically adverb

rhythm

→ إِيْقاع rytmus rytme Rhythmus ρυθμός ritmo rytmi rythme ritam ritmo リズム 리듬 ritme rytme rytm ritmo ритм rytm จังหวะ ritim nhịp điệu 节奏

rhythm

n. ritmo, regularidad en la acción o función de un órgano u órganos del cuerpo tal como el corazón.

rhythm

n ritmo

References in classic literature ?

In a moment he had struck a rhythm. Unconsciously, our yells and exclamations yielded to this rhythm.

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For as there are persons who, by conscious art or mere habit, imitate and represent various objects through the medium of colour and form, or again by the voice; so in the arts above mentioned, taken as a whole, the imitation is produced by rhythm, language, or 'harmony,' either singly or combined.

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Highly important in poetry is Rhythm, but the word means merely 'flow,' so that rhythm belongs to prose as well as to poetry.

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Besides, all those who hear any imitations sympathise therewith; and this when they are conveyed even without rhythm or verse.

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Both Buddha and Lao Tzu are poets, one listening to the rhythm of infinite sorrow, one to the rhythm of infinite joy.

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Do you happen to know that Consciousness is the creature of Rhythm?"

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The poem swung in majestic rhythm to the cool tumult of interstellar conflict, to the onset of starry hosts, to the impact of cold suns and the flaming up of nebular in the darkened void; and through it all, unceasing and faint, like a silver shuttle, ran the frail, piping voice of man, a querulous chirp amid the screaming of planets and the crash of systems.

View in context

I seemed swinging in a mighty rhythm through orbit vastness.

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He sat down abruptly, almost cataleptically, drew his head away from the clutch of her hands and out of the entanglement of her hair, and, his nose thrust upward at an angle of forty-five degrees, he began to quiver and to breathe audibly in rhythm to the rhythm of her singing.

View in context

The commonest utterances of the commonest citizens in the time of the Colour Revolt seem to have been suffused with a richer tinge of word or thought; and to that era we are even now indebted for our finest poetry and for whatever rhythm still remains in the more scientific utterance of these modern days.

View in context

I could not say why "Harold the Dauntless" most took my fancy; the fine, strongly flowing rhythm of the verse had a good deal to do with it, I believe.

View in context

The Woggle-Bug read his "Ode to Ozma," which was written in very good rhythm and was well received by the company.