coda
UK/ˈkəʊ.də//ˈkoʊ.də/
coda noun: a passage that brings a movement or piece to a conclusion through prolongation. Also the alternative spelling of CODA.
Noun (1)
coda (plural codas)
- A passage that brings a movement or piece to a conclusion through prolongation.
- In classical music there are, as the analytical programs tell us, first subjects and second subjects, free fantasias, recapitulations, and codas; there are fugues, with counter-subjects, strettos, and pedal points; there are passacaglias on ground basses, canons ad hypodiapente, and other...1902 [1898], [George] Bernard Shaw, The Perfect Wagnerite […] , second edition, London: Grant Richards, page 3
- Synonyms:
- finale
- The optional final sound of a syllable or word, occurring after its nucleus and usually composed of one or more consonants.
- The word “salts” has three consonants — /l/, /t/, and /s/ — in its coda, whereas the word “glee” has no coda at all.
- Synonyms:
- auslaut
- In seismograms, the gradual return to baseline after a seismic event. The length of the coda can be used to estimate event magnitude, and the shape sometimes reveals details of subsurface structures.
- A conclusion (of a statement or event, for example), final portion, tail end.
- Downstairs, a little later, in the drawing room, the coda of the party was unwinding, and Gerald opening new bottles of champagne as though he made no distinction between the boring drunks who "sat," and the knowing few of the inner circle, gathered round the empty marble fireplace.2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 9, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN
- In gray stormy light, their painted eyes stare out at the Mediterranean—at Homer’s wine-dark sea, at a corridor into modernity. But in memory my walk’s true coda in the Middle East came earlier.2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)https://web.archive.org/web/20150212214621/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/pilgrim-roads/salopek-text
- A series of clicks used by sperm whales for communicating with each other.
Noun (2) capitalized: CODA
CODA (plural CODAs)
Also used as
coda is also the alternative spelling of CODA.
coda meaning in Arabic, Indonesian and Persian
coda in Arabic
- linguistics
- خَاتِمَة ḵātimah
coda in Indonesian
- music
- koda
- linguistics
- koda
coda in Persian
- linguistics
- پایانه pâyâne
Synonyms of coda
Antonyms
Forms of coda
| plural | codas |
|---|---|
| plural | CODAs |
| alternative form | coda |
Origin of coda
Borrowed from Italian coda (literally “tail”), from Latin cauda. Doublet of queue and cola.
Acronym of child of deaf adults.
Words formed from coda
Words that rhyme with coda
Questions about coda
- What does coda mean?
- Coda means a passage that brings a movement or piece to a conclusion through prolongation.
- What is coda in Arabic?
- Coda in Arabic is خَاتِمَة (ḵātimah). See Coda meaning in Arabic.
- What part of speech is coda?
- Coda is a noun.
- How do you pronounce coda?
- Coda is pronounced /ˈkəʊ.də/ (UK).
- What is the plural of coda?
- The plural of coda is codas.
Words near coda in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: coda (page history and authors); CODA (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-coda.ogg, en-au-coda.ogg.
Cite this entry: “coda.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/coda. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.