syncopation

[ sing-kuh-pey-shuh n, sin- ]
/ ˌsɪŋ kəˈpeɪ ʃən, ˌsɪn- /

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.

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, syncretism, syncretize, syncrisis

Example sentences from the Web for syncopation

British Dictionary definitions for syncopation

syncopation
/ (ˌsɪŋkəˈpeɪʃən) /

noun

music
  1. the displacement of the usual rhythmic accent away from a strong beat onto a weak beat
  2. a note, beat, rhythm, etc, produced by syncopation
another word for syncope (def. 2)