Etymology

First coined in 1557, from LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#RHYTHM rhythmus, from Ancient GreekCategory:English terms derived from Ancient Greek#RHYTHM ῥυθμός (rhuthmós, “any measured flow or movement, symmetry, rhythm”), from ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow, run, stream, gush”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪð.m̩/Category:English 2-syllable words#RHYTHMCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#RHYTHM

  • Audio (General American):

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    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#RHYTHM

  • Audio (US):

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    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#RHYTHM
  • Rhymes: -ɪðəmCategory:Rhymes:English/ɪðəm#RHYTHMCategory:Rhymes:English/ɪðəm/2 syllables#RHYTHM

Noun

rhythm (countable and uncountable, plural rhythms)Category:English lemmas#RHYTHMCategory:English nouns#RHYTHMCategory:English uncountable nouns#RHYTHMCategory:English countable nouns#RHYTHMCategory:English countable nouns#RHYTHMCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#RHYTHMCategory:Pages with entries#RHYTHMCategory:Pages with 1 entry#RHYTHM

1. 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.Category:English terms with usage examples#RHYTHM

   • 2025 October 2, Dwight Garner, “Book Review: 'Shadow Ticket,' by Thomas Pynchon”, in The New York Times Book Review‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 7 October 2025:

     Hicks is both thwarter and thwartee of Daedalean plots. Aboard a train, the rhythm of the wheels sounds to him like "wottachump, wottachump, wottachump."

     Category:English terms with quotations#RHYTHM

2. A specifically defined pattern of such variation.

   Most dances have a rhythm as distinctive as the Iambic verse in poetryCategory:English terms with usage examples#RHYTHM

3. A flow, repetition or regularity.

   Once you get the rhythm of it, the job will become easy.Category:English terms with usage examples#RHYTHM

   • 2026 February 18, Paul Clifton, “West of England Line problems laid bare”, in RAIL, page 7:

     Will this decision-making paralysis continue until Great British Railways has been established and settled into a new rhythm? If so, passengers on the West of England line are in for a rough ride, as the reliability of these tired old British Rail trains inevitably declines, and maintenance costs rise.

     Category:English terms with quotations#RHYTHM

4. The tempo or speed of a beat, song or repetitive event.

   We walked with a quick, even rhythm.Category:English terms with usage examples#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, […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#RHYTHM

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   • 1967, Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, New York:

     Bigeminous rhythm was followed by bursts of extrasystoles.

     Category:English terms with quotations#RHYTHM

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5. The musical instruments which provide rhythm (mainly; not or less melody) in a musical ensemble.

   The Baroque term basso continuo is virtually equivalent to rhythmCategory:English terms with usage examples#RHYTHM

6. A regular quantitative change in a variable (notably natural) process.

   The rhythm of the seasons dominates agriculture as well as wildlifeCategory:English terms with usage examples#RHYTHM

7. 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 comedyCategory:English terms with usage examples#RHYTHM

8. A person's natural feeling for rhythm.

   That girl's got rhythm, watch her dance!Category:English terms with usage examples#RHYTHM

   • 1984, George Michael, Andrew Ridgeley, “Careless Whisper”:

     I'm never gonna dance again / Guilty feet have got no rhythm

     Category:English terms with quotations#RHYTHM

Verb

rhythm (third-person singular simple present rhythms, present participle rhythming, simple past and past participle rhythmed)Category:English lemmas#RHYTHMCategory:English verbs#RHYTHMCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#RHYTHMCategory:Pages with entries#RHYTHMCategory:Pages with 1 entry#RHYTHM

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#RHYTHM) 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'.

     Category:English terms with quotations#RHYTHM

   • 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#RHYTHM

   • 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.

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   • 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#RHYTHM