Word.ws English Dictionary

English cadence

Syllables: Engl·ish cad·enceUK/ˌɪŋ(ɡ)lɪʃ ˈkeɪdn̩(t)s/

English cadence noun: a perfect cadence characteristic of English Renaissance music, involving a flattened seventh note played against the dominant chord (containing a regular raised seventh). Conventionally, the flattened seventh is played as part of a suspension on the penultimate beat, before resolving downwards to the sixth and then fifth of the final chord, while the raised seventh is held before resolving upward to the first; however, more complex variations are also possible.

Noun

English cadence (plural English cadences)

  1. A perfect cadence characteristic of English Renaissance music, involving a flattened seventh note played against the dominant chord (containing a regular raised seventh). Conventionally, the flattened seventh is played as part of a suspension on the penultimate beat, before resolving downwards to the sixth and then fifth of the final chord, while the raised seventh is held before resolving upward to the first; however, more complex variations are also possible.
    • A typical English cadence in C major, involving a B♭ that resolves to A followed by G, suspended on the third beat against a B♮ that resolves to C:
  2. A more complex example in G major, from the end of William Byrd’s Browning à 5

Forms of English cadence

pluralEnglish cadences

Origin of English cadence

From English + cadence, coined due to its popularity with composers of the English Renaissance of the late 15th to the early 17th centuries.

Questions about English cadence

What does English cadence mean?
English cadence means a perfect cadence characteristic of English Renaissance music, involving a flattened seventh note played against the dominant chord (containing a regular raised seventh). Conventionally, the flattened seventh is played as part of a suspension on the penultimate beat, before resolving downwards to the sixth and then fifth of the final chord, while the raised seventh is held before resolving upward to the first; however, more complex variations are also possible.
What part of speech is English cadence?
English cadence is a noun.
How do you pronounce English cadence?
English cadence is pronounced /ˌɪŋ(ɡ)lɪʃ ˈkeɪdn̩(t)s/ (UK).
What is the plural of English cadence?
The plural of English cadence is English cadences.

Words near English cadence in the dictionary

  1. English broom
  2. English brooms
  3. English bulldog
  4. English bunt
  5. English bunts
  6. English cadence
  7. English cadences
  8. English camomile
  9. English Canada
  10. English Canadian
  11. English Canadians

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: English cadence (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.

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