Word.ws English Dictionary

syncopation

/ˌsɪŋ.kəˈpeɪ.ʃən/

syncopation noun: the contraction of a word by means of loss or omission of sounds or syllables in the middle thereof.

Noun

syncopation (usually uncountable, plural syncopations)

  1. (usually) The contraction of a word by means of loss or omission of sounds or syllables in the middle thereof.
  2. (usually) The quality of a rhythm being somehow unexpected, in that it deviates from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak beats in a meter.

Forms of syncopation

pluralsyncopations

Origin of syncopation

From syncopate + -ion. The phonological sense was first attested in English in the 1530's, the musical sense in the 1590's.

Words formed from syncopation

Questions about syncopation

What does syncopation mean?
Syncopation means the contraction of a word by means of loss or omission of sounds or syllables in the middle thereof.
What part of speech is syncopation?
Syncopation is a noun.
How do you pronounce syncopation?
Syncopation is pronounced /ˌsɪŋ.kəˈpeɪ.ʃən/.
What is the plural of syncopation?
The plural of syncopation is syncopations.

Words near syncopation in the dictionary

  1. syncopal
  2. syncopate
  3. syncopated
  4. syncopates
  5. syncopating
  6. syncopation
  7. syncopational
  8. syncopationally
  9. syncopations
  10. syncopative
  11. syncopator

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: syncopation (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-syncopation.wav.

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