1. The beat, time, or measure of rhythmical motion or activity
   "The cadence of her typing never slowed"
    
2. Rise and fall of the voice pitch
   "The cadence of his voice indicated surprise";
   - intonation, modulation, pitch contour
    
3. The close of a musical section
   "The perfect cadence brought the piece to a satisfying conclusion"
    
4. A recurrent rhythmical series
   "The cadence of her speech had a hypnotic effect on the audience";
   - cadency [rare]
    
5. The production of musical tones (by voice or instrument); especially the exactitude of the pitch relations
   "The violinist's perfect cadence impressed the judges";
   - intonation
    
6. (cycling, running) the number of revolutions of the pedals or steps per minute
   "She maintained a steady cadence of 90 rpm throughout the race"
    
7. (prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse
   "The poem's regular cadence gave it a rhythmic quality";
   - meter [US], metre [Brit, Cdn], measure, beat

Derived forms: cadences

Type of: inflection, music, musical passage, passage, poetic rhythm, prosody, rhythmic pattern, rhythmicity

Encyclopedia: Cadence