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rhythm

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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First coined in 1557, from Latin rhythmus, from Ancient Greek ῥυθμός (rhuthmós, “any measured flow or movement, symmetry, rhythm”), from ῥέω (rhéō, “I flow, run, stream, gush”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈɹɪð.əm/, [ˈɹɪð.m̩]
    • Audio (US):(file)
    • Rhymes: -ɪðəm
  • (obsolete) IPA(key): /ˈɹɪθ.əm/

Noun

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rhythm (countable and uncountable, plural rhythms)

  1. The variation of strong and weak elements (such as duration, accent) of sounds, notably in speech or music, over time; a beat or meter.
    Dance to the rhythm of the music.
  2. A specifically defined pattern of such variation.
    Most dances have a rhythm as distinctive as the Iambic verse in poetry
  3. A flow, repetition or regularity.
    Once you get the rhythm of it, the job will become easy.
  4. The tempo or speed of a beat, song or repetitive event.
    We walked with a quick, even rhythm.
    • 1872, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Poetry and Imagination:
      If you hum or whistle the rhythm of the common English metres,— of the decasyllabic quatrain, or the octosyllabic with alternate sexisyllabic, or other rhythms, […]
    • 1967, Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, New York:
      Bigeminous rhythm was followed by bursts of extrasystoles.
  5. The musical instruments which provide rhythm (mainly; not or less melody) in a musical ensemble.
    The Baroque term basso continuo is virtually equivalent to rhythm
  6. A regular quantitative change in a variable (notably natural) process.
    The rhythm of the seasons dominates agriculture as well as wildlife
  7. Controlled repetition of a phrase, incident or other element as a stylistic figure in literature and other narrative arts; the effect it creates.
    The running gag is a popular rhythm in motion pictures and theater comedy
  8. A person's natural feeling for rhythm.
    That girl's got rhythm, watch her dance!

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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rhythm (third-person singular simple present rhythms, present participle rhythming, simple past and past participle rhythmed)

  1. (transitive) To impart a (particular) rhythm to.
    • 1987, Ian Noble, Language and Narration in Céline’s Writings, page 194:
      The pamphlet, writes Muray, 'is the supremely affirmative form in which nothing can be turned around, rhythmed or played with in synonyms and rhymes'.
    • 2017, Robert Hassan, The Age of Distraction:
      And so the microchip, say, reflects a certain electronically driven speed of society, just as the invention of a flint axe, reflected a society that was rhythmed fully by biological and environmental temporalities.
    • 2021, Sónia Pedro Sebastião, ‎Susana de Carvalho Spínola, Diplomacy, Organisations and Citizens, page 316:
      ISP places are, therefore, not only considered places of teaching and learning performances (see point 4): the different locations rhythmed the entire programme.
    • 2024, Marie-Rose Cardat, Why I left my Hometown, page 184:
      rhythmed by a television show and a meal, as we grow older, things change. rhythmed by a baby's cry and school holidays, as we grow older, things change. rhythmed by monthly bills and a husband's envies, as we grow older, some things never change.
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