Definition of: cadence

(kād′ns) noun
1. Rhythmic or measured flow or movement, as in poetry, music, oratory.
2. Mil. Uniform pace and time in marching expressed in so many steps to the minute; measure; beat.
3. Modulation, as of the voice or of elemental sounds; also, a fall of the voice, as at a period.
4. Intonation or inflection of the speaking voice as distinctive of a language or locality.
5. Music a A succession of chords naturally closing a musical phrase or period: the perfect, complete, or whole cadence, proper at the end of a movement; the imperfect or half cadence, often a reversal of the dominant perfect. b A cadenza. See synonyms under TUNE. [<F <Ital. cadenza <LL cadentia a falling <cadere fall. Doublet of CHANCE, CADENZA.]
—ca′denced adjective