Meaning of rhythm in English

rhythm

noun

/ˈrɪð.əm/ us

/ˈrɪð.əm/

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B2 [ C or U ]

a strong pattern of sounds, words, or musical notes that is used in music, poetry, and dancing:

He beat out a jazz rhythm on the drums.

I've got no sense of rhythm, so I'm a terrible dancer.

B2 [ C or U ]

a regular movement or pattern of movements:

She was lulled to sleep by the gentle rhythm of the boat in the water.

She hit the ball so hard that her opponent had no chance to establish any rhythm in her game.

[ C ]

a regular pattern of change, especially one that happens in nature:

the rhythm of the seasons

Breathing and sleeping are examples of biological rhythms in humans.

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As he read the poem out loud, he mangled the rhythm so badly that it scarcely made any sense.
The drummer beat out a steady rhythm while we marched.
Their music is a blend of jazz and African rhythms.
The music suddenly changed from a smooth melody to a staccato rhythm.
Defibrillators are used to restore normal rhythm to the heart.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Technical music terms

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Straight, even and level

Change and changes

(Definition of rhythm from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

rhythm | American Dictionary

rhythm

noun [ C/U ]

/ˈrɪð·əm/

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music

a regularly repeated pattern of sounds or beats used in music, poems, and dances:

[ C ] a jazz rhythm

[ U ] You need a sense of rhythm to be a good dancer.

Rhythm is also a regular movement:

[ C ] The rhythm of a boat rocking in the water lulled him to sleep.

Rhythm is also a regular pattern of change:

[ C ] Waking and sleeping are examples of biological rhythms.

rhythmic

adjective us

/ˈrɪð·mɪk/ (also rhythmical, us/ˈrɪð·mɪ·kəl/)

The rhythmic sound of the rain on the roof put the child to sleep.

(Definition of rhythm from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of rhythm

rhythm

The evidence pertaining to the importance of social rhythms is steadily accumulating.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The piece veers between representation of street environments at one extreme, and abstract, looping rhythms at the other.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Both revision and alteration imply changes to the actual notes of the composition, as opposed to rescoring without fundamentally disturbing pitches, rhythms or form.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In fact, the unsteady vocals are the trappings of someone very uncomfortable in the rhythms of their body.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The tempo is faster, and the rhythms more regular - in short, more urgent and obsessive.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

There are a lot of piano solo sections, together with complex rhythms, and thus it is essential to give the pianist some time tolerance.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The sense of thriving derived from involvement in a community, the rhythms of daily life and feeling useful.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In addition to these 'rhythmic spirituals', hard-driving rhythms were also found in a style of gospel singing and clapping known as 'rocking and reeling'.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Spaces of pitch, spaces of rhythms, spaces of textures, among others, can be candidates for formalisation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They base their hypothesis on clinical evidence that basal ganglia dysfunction allows slow idling cortical rhythms to predominate.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Pitch and interval invariance are important strategies for creating continuity across the rapidly-changing textures and rhythms.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Such long-lasting changes of ongoing background activity, however, are episodically shaped at a finer temporal scale by brief phasic modulations of the rhythms.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Smaller changes in textual rhythms from draft to final version contribute further to this revised rhythmic mood.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Other common interventions include planning and scheduling for abrupt changes in social rhythms at the beginning and end of the school year.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The final cadence, with slowing harmonic and surface rhythms, reflected a submission to the canines' tenacity.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with rhythm

rhythm

These are words often used in combination with rhythm.

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biological rhythm

The biological rhythm of consciousness and the deteriorating or ongoing disease determines that these phases of clarity are transient.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

cardiac rhythm

Of the 165 fetuses where outcome is known, 157 (95%) had an uneventful antenatal and postnatal course with regard to cardiac rhythm.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

circadian rhythm

During the procedure continuous measures of the circadian rhythm are taken, typically including rectal temperature, melatonin, and cortisol.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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What is the pronunciation of rhythm?

What is the pronunciation of rhythmical?

Translations of rhythm

in Chinese (Traditional)

（音樂、詩歌和舞蹈的）節奏，韻律，節律, 規則的運動, （動作的）節奏…

Meaning of rhythm in English

rhythm | American Dictionary

rhythmic

Examples of rhythm

Collocations with rhythm

rhythm

Translations of rhythm

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