Word.ws English Dictionary

plagal cadence

plagal cadence noun: a falling cadence in which a subdominant chord precedes the tonic; especially used in an ending Amen.

Noun

plagal cadence (plural plagal cadences)

  1. A falling cadence in which a subdominant chord precedes the tonic; especially used in an ending Amen.
    • A fellow could rely on Market Street only so far, and then even that began to get discouraging, plagal cadences on parlor pianos, bright lights, and mirrors to the contrary notwithstanding.2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 230
    Synonyms:
    amen cadence

Synonyms of plagal cadence

  • amen cadence

Forms of plagal cadence

pluralplagal cadences

Questions about plagal cadence

What does plagal cadence mean?
Plagal cadence means a falling cadence in which a subdominant chord precedes the tonic; especially used in an ending Amen.
What part of speech is plagal cadence?
Plagal cadence is a noun.
What is the plural of plagal cadence?
The plural of plagal cadence is plagal cadences.

Words near plagal cadence in the dictionary

  1. plafond
  2. plafonds
  3. plag
  4. plagae
  5. plagal
  6. plagal cadence
  7. plagal cadences
  8. plagally
  9. plagarism
  10. plagate
  11. plage

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: plagal 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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