cadenced

Word family

• cadence
  nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Rhythmic is the broad everyday word for anything with a clear repeating beat, from breathing to dance music. Measured often stresses control and even pace, especially in speech or movement, and can sound calmer or more deliberate. Lilting suggests a lighter musical swing, often in a voice or melody that rises and falls pleasantly. Cadenced is the most literary of the group. It usually describes speech, prose, or movement whose rhythm feels shaped and flowing, as if arranged for effect. A drum pattern can be rhythmic, a careful reply can be measured, and a folk tune can be lilting, but a formal reading or a piece of prose is often best described as cadenced.

Common collocations

Etymology

Cadenced is built from the noun cadence plus the suffix -ed, giving the idea of something shaped by a rhythm or rise and fall. Cadence came into English through French from Latin cadentia, based on cadere, meaning 'to fall', which also gave the word its sense of a falling close in speech or music.