# rhythm
## English
### Etymology

First coined in 1557, from Latin rhythmus, from Ancient Greek ῥυθμός (rhuthmós, “any measured flow or movement, symmetry, rhythm”), from ῥέω (rhéō, “I flow, run, stream, gush”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɹɪð.əm/, [ˈɹɪð.m̩]
** Audio (US):(file)
** Rhymes: -ɪðəm
* (obsolete) IPA: /ˈɹɪθ.əm/

### Noun

rhythm (countable and uncountable, plural rhythms)
* The variation of strong and weak elements (such as duration, accent) of sounds, notably in speech or music, over time; a beat or meter.
    Dance to the rhythm of the music.
* A specifically defined pattern of such variation.
    Most dances have a rhythm as distinctive as the Iambic verse in poetry
* A flow, repetition or regularity.
    Once you get the rhythm of it, the job will become easy.
* The tempo or speed of a beat, song or repetitive event.
    We walked with a quick, even rhythm.
** 1872, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Poetry and Imagination:If you hum or whistle the rhythm of the common English metres,— of the decasyllabic quatrain, or the octosyllabic with alternate sexisyllabic, or other rhythms, […]
** 1967, Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, New York:Bigeminous rhythm was followed by bursts of extrasystoles.
* The musical instruments which provide rhythm (mainly; not or less melody) in a musical ensemble.
    The Baroque term basso continuo is virtually equivalent to rhythm
* A regular quantitative change in a variable (notably natural) process.
    The rhythm of the seasons dominates agriculture as well as wildlife
* Controlled repetition of a phrase, incident or other element as a stylistic figure in literature and other narrative arts; the effect it creates.
    The running gag is a popular rhythm in motion pictures and theater comedy
* A person's natural feeling for rhythm.
    That girl's got rhythm, watch her dance!
** 1984, George Michael, Andrew Ridgeley (lyrics and music), “Careless Whisper”:I'm never gonna dance again / Guilty feet have got no rhythm

#### Synonyms

* meter / metre
* prosody
* (instruments providing rhythm) rhythm section

#### Derived terms

* alpha rhythm
* battle rhythm
* biorhythm
* circadian rhythm
* counterrhythm
* cross-rhythm
* dysrhythmia
* escape rhythm
* homorhythm
* isorhythm
* Lombardic rhythm
* Lombard rhythm
* plagiarhythm
* polyrhythm
* poly-rhythm
* rhythmal
* rhythm and blues
* rhythm and grime
* rhythm band
* rhythm box
* rhythmed
* rhythmer
* rhythm game
* rhythm guitar
* rhythmic
* rhythmical
* rhythming
* rhythmise
* rhythmite
* rhythmless
* rhythm method
* rhythmogenetic
* rhythmology
* rhythmometer
* rhythm pole
* rhythm royal
* rhythm stick
* sinus rhythm
* tachyrhythmia
* theta rhythm

#### Related terms

* rhythmicity
* rhythmics
* rhythmist
* rhythmize

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

rhythm (third-person singular simple present rhythms, present participle rhythming, simple past and past participle rhythmed)
* (transitive) To impart a (particular) rhythm to.
** 1987, Ian Noble, Language and Narration in Céline’s Writings, page 194:The pamphlet, writes Muray, 'is the supremely affirmative form in which nothing can be turned around, rhythmed or played with in synonyms and rhymes'.
** 2017, Robert Hassan, The Age of Distraction:And so the microchip, say, reflects a certain electronically driven speed of society, just as the invention of a flint axe, reflected a society that was rhythmed fully by biological and environmental temporalities.
** 2021, Sónia Pedro Sebastião, Susana de Carvalho Spínola, Diplomacy, Organisations and Citizens, page 316:ISP places are, therefore, not only considered places of teaching and learning performances (see point 4): the different locations rhythmed the entire programme.
** 2024, Marie-Rose Cardat, Why I left my Hometown, page 184:rhythmed by a television show and a meal, as we grow older, things change. rhythmed by a baby's cry and school holidays, as we grow older, things change. rhythmed by monthly bills and a husband's envies, as we grow older, some things never change.