The general cadence meaning is a rhythm, a pattern of rising and falling or of beats that repeat. You can hear cadence in a voice that lifts and drops as someone tells a story, in the chords that close a piece of music, in a runner's steady footfalls, and even in a team that meets every Monday.
Each field has sharpened the word for its own needs. So what does cadence mean in your case? Below you will find the main senses, how it sits in a sentence, and the small differences between cadence, rhythm, tempo and pace.
Entry at a glance
Meaning
Rhythm; the rise and fall of sound; a regular repeating pacePart of speech
Noun (rarely a verb)Pronunciation
KAY-duhnsWord forms
cadences (plural), cadenced (adjective)Origin
Latin cadere, to fall, through Italian and Old FrenchClose words
rhythm, tempo, pace, beat, liltRegister
Neutral; technical in music and sport; trendy in office talk
The senses of cadence
- Voice and speech. The rise and fall of tone as someone talks, and the natural music of their sentences. Her Irish cadence made the story feel warmer.
- Music. A short series of chords that ends a phrase or a piece and gives a sense of arriving home.
- Writing. The rhythm of prose or verse, the way sentence lengths and stresses flow.
- Movement and sport. Steps per minute for runners, pedal turns per minute for cyclists, or the beat soldiers march to.
- Work and business. How often something regular happens: a weekly meeting, a monthly report, a release every two weeks.
Cadence meaning at work
Managers and project teams have made cadence a common office word. When someone says let's set a cadence, they mean agree how often you will meet, report or ship work. A weekly cadence of check-ins, a quarterly cadence of reviews, a release cadence of two weeks in agile software teams.
Some people find the word a little jargony for what could be called a schedule. The difference is that cadence stresses the steady repeat, while a schedule can be a one-off list of dates. Similar office jargon gets explained in business and money.
Example sentences
- The poem's cadence slows in the last stanza, as if the speaker is tired.
- My coach wants my running cadence closer to 170 steps a minute.
- We moved the sales review to a monthly cadence because weekly felt rushed.
- You could hear his grandmother's cadence in the way he told jokes.
- The choir held the final cadence until the hall went silent.
A word about falling
Cadence traces to Latin cadere, to fall, through a later Latin form meaning a falling and through Italian cadenza and Old French cadence. English had it by the late 1300s for the flow of rhythm in verse or prose. The idea of a fall fits well: a speaking voice drops as a sentence closes, and a musical cadence falls into its home chord.
The music sense is recorded from the 1590s, and the broader sense of any rhythmic beat from around 1600. Curiously, the everyday word chance grew from the same Latin source, from the idea of how things fall out.
Cadence, rhythm, tempo and pace
| Word | Focus |
|---|---|
| Cadence | The patterned rise and fall, or how often a beat repeats |
| Rhythm | The overall pattern of strong and weak beats |
| Tempo | Speed, especially in music |
| Pace | How fast something moves or progresses |
| Cadenza | A showy solo passage near the end of a piece of music |
A runner with a high cadence takes many short steps, but her pace may still be slow. A meeting cadence of weekly does not say how fast the meeting runs, only how often it comes around.
Using it well
Cadence is usually countable when you mean one pattern (a gentle cadence, two different cadences) and often comes with of: the cadence of her speech, the cadence of the waves. Adjectives that pair naturally include slow, steady, lilting, familiar and regular.
Writers use it to praise prose that sounds good aloud, a skill closely tied to devices like alliteration and well-built prose. In casual office talk, prefer how often or schedule if your listener may not know the jargon.
Frequently asked questions
How would you define cadence simply?
Cadence means rhythm. It can be the way a voice rises and falls, the beat of music, or how often something regular happens.
What is cadence in running?
In running, cadence is the number of steps you take per minute. Coaches often look at it alongside stride length to judge running form.
How do you pronounce cadence?
It is KAY-duhns, two syllables, with the first one strong. The ending sounds like the end of the word evidence.
What is a cadence in music?
A musical cadence is a set of chords that closes a phrase or a whole piece. It works like punctuation, signaling a pause or a full stop.
What is the definition of cadence in business?
In business, cadence is the regular rhythm of a recurring activity, such as weekly team calls or monthly reports. A steady cadence helps people know what to expect.
Is cadence the same as cadenza?
No. They share an origin, but a cadenza is a showy solo passage in music, while a cadence is the closing chords or a rhythm in general.