Adjacent Words

Imperfect cadence definitions

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Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cadence Ca"dence, n. [OE. cadence, cadens, LL. cadentia a falling, fr. L. cadere to fall; cf. F. cadence, It. cadenza. See Chance.] 1. The act or state of declining or sinking. [Obs.] Now was the sun in western cadence low. --Milton. 2. A fall of the voice in reading or speaking, especially at the end of a sentence. 3. A rhythmical modulation of the voice or of any sound; as, music of bells in cadence sweet. Blustering winds, which all night long Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull Seafaring men o'erwatched. --Milton. The accents . . . were in passion's tenderest cadence. --Sir W. Scott. 4. Rhythmical flow of language, in prose or verse. Golden cadence of poesy. --Shak. If in any composition much attention was paid to the flow of the rhythm, it was said (at least in the 14th and 15th centuries) to be ``prosed in faire cadence.'' --Dr. Guest. 5. (Her.) See Cadency. 6. (Man.) Harmony and proportion in motions, as of a well-managed horse. 7. (Mil.) A uniform time and place in marching. 8. (Mus.) (a) The close or fall of a strain; the point of rest, commonly reached by the immediate succession of the tonic to the dominant chord. (b) A cadenza, or closing embellishment; a pause before the end of a strain, which the performer may fill with a flight of fancy. Imperfect cadence. (Mus.) See under Imperfect.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Imperfect Im*per"fect, a. [L. imperfectus: pref. im- not + perfectus perfect: cf. F imparfait, whence OE. imparfit. See Perfect.] 1. Not perfect; not complete in all its parts; wanting a part; deective; deficient. Something he left imperfect in the state. --Shak. Why, then, your other senses grow imperfect. --Shak. 2. Wanting in some elementary organ that is essential to successful or normal activity. He . . . stammered like a child, or an amazed, imperfect person. --Jer. Taylor. 3. Not fulfilling its design; not realizing an ideal; not conformed to a standard or rule; not satisfying the taste or conscience; esthetically or morally defective. Nothing imperfect or deficient left Of all that he created. --Milton. Then say not man's imperfect, Heaven in fault; Say rather, man's as perfect as he ought. --Pope. Imperfect arch, an arch of less than a semicircle; a skew arch. Imperfect cadence (Mus.), one not ending with the tonic, but with the dominant or some other chord; one not giving complete rest; a half close. Imperfect consonances (Mus.), chords like the third and sixth, whose ratios are less simple than those of the fifth and forth. Imperfect flower (Bot.), a flower wanting either stamens or pistils. --Gray. Imperfect interval (Mus.), one a semitone less than perfect; as, an imperfect fifth. Imperfect number (Math.), a number either greater or less than the sum of its several divisors; in the former case, it is called also a defective number; in the latter, an abundant number. Imperfect obligations (Law), obligations as of charity or gratitude, which cannot be enforced by law. Imperfect power (Math.), a number which can not be produced by taking any whole number or vulgar fraction, as a factor, the number of times indicated by the power; thus, 9 is a perfect square, but an imperfect cube. Imperfect tense (Gram), a tense expressing past time and incomplete action.