codas

Noun

coda (plural codas)

1. 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

2. 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

   Antonyms:

   anlaut, onset

3. 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.
4. (figuratively) 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
5. A series of clicks used by sperm whales for communicating with each other.

See all 6 meanings of coda