cadence

noun

ca·​dence ˈkā-dᵊn(t)s 

plural cadences

1

a

: the beat, time, or measure of rhythmical motion or activity

The drill sergeant counted cadence.

the steady cadence of the drums

b

: a rhythmic sequence or flow of sounds in language

the grand cadence of his poetry

c

: a regular and repeated pattern of activity

In addition to our weekly cadence, we take a step back once a quarter to think about our platform a little more strategically.

—David Vandegrift

To meet its cadence of a launch every other week, SpaceX must build at least two of these each month.

—Eric Berger

Then in the evening, it's off to the boxing gym or a sparring session for two to three more hours. In recent years, she's kept a cadence of two to four fights annually, her last being a loss for the WBC light middleweight world title in Poland in September.

—Deanna Cioppa

2

a

: a falling inflection of the voice

b

: a concluding and usually falling strain

specifically : a musical chord sequence moving to a harmonic close or point of rest and giving the sense of harmonic completion

3

: the modulated and rhythmic recurrence of a sound especially in nature

cadenced

ˈkā-dᵊn(t)st 

adjective

cadential

kā-ˈden(t)-shəl 

adjective

Did you know?

Cadence and Music

A cadence is a rhythm, or a flow of words or music, in a sequence that is regular (or steady as it were). But lest we be mistaken, cadence also lends its meaning to the sounds of Mother Nature (such as birdsong) to be sure. Cadence comes from Middle English borrowed from Medieval Latin’s own cadentia, a lovely word that means “rhythm in verse.” (You may also recognize a cadence cousin, sweet cadenza, as a word that is familiar in the opera universe.) And from there our cadence traces just a little further backward to the Latin verb cadere “to sound rhythmically, to fall.” Praise the rising and the falling of the lilting in our language, whether singing songs or rhyming or opining on it all.

Did you know?

Cadence in the Military

Cadence can refer to any rhythmic sequence of words or sound, but in military contexts, the word has a particular meaning, referring to the rhythmic chants sung by soldiers in marching formation.

These chants can often help keep marchers in line with the rhythm of the march:

Early each morning we were assembled for drill, marching to the cadence of a full-throated Marine sergeant who had little use for us; what he knew for sure about us was that we would be of little value in any hand-to-hand fight.
Lewis Thomas, in Authors at Sea, 1997

Synonyms

• rhythm

Examples of cadence in a Sentence

the steady cadence of the drums

Oars moved back and forth in smooth cadence.

He speaks with a soft Southern cadence.

Recent Examples on the Web

Her voice, a clear, singsong cadence that toddlers seem helpless to resist, has become, for millions of parents, the definitive soundtrack of early childhood. —Samantha Barry, Glamour, 27 Oct. 2025

Can Green Bay avoid Rodgers' longstanding ability to use his cadence to draw penalties on the defense? —Jr Radcliffe, jsonline.com, 24 Oct. 2025

SpaceX has spent more than six years delivering the satellites to orbit with a regular cadence of rocket launches from Florida and California. —Eric Lagatta, AZCentral.com, 24 Oct. 2025

After appearing in hundreds of games, Mario himself has basically become gaming’s Mickey Mouse; his face and faux-Italian cadence instantly recognizable to anyone who has been on Earth for the past four decades. —Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 18 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, "rhythm of prose or verse, rhetorical periods," borrowed from Medieval Latin cadentia "rhythm in verse," noun derivative (formally feminine singular from neuter plural) of Latin cadent-, cadens, present participle of cadere "to fall, sound rhythmically, end, terminate (of words or clauses)" — more at chance entry 1

Note: Since at least the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (1888), this word has been attributed to Italian, either directly or through French. However, attestations of French cadence and Italian cadenza are significantly later than the first occurrences of cadence in Middle English (ca. 1390) and early Scots (ca. 1420). (The word also occurs in Chaucer's House of Fame, composed ca. 1380 and attested earliest in a manuscript of ca. 1450.) In Medieval Latin cadentia appears in the approximate sense "verse rhythm" (pedum cadentia) in John of Garland's Parisiana poetria (composed ca. 1234).

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1b

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Kids Definition

cadence

noun

ca·​dence ˈkād-ᵊn(t)s 

1

a

: rhythmic flow of sounds : the beat of rhythmic motion or activity

2

: a melodic or rhythmic pattern that serves as the close of a musical phrase or composition

cadenced

-ᵊn(t)st 

adjective