rhythms

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of rhythm.

   The composer wove two contrasting rhythms into a single passage.

   Her poems follow irregular rhythms that mimic natural speech.

   Note

   A plural that belongs to the countable uses of rhythm, where each pattern can be told apart: the rhythms of speech or verse, or the regular cycles of a natural process. Used as an uncountable noun, rhythm names the quality itself and takes no plural. Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio" (1982) shows the everyday frame, the rhythms of the music. The same spelling also serves as the present-tense verb.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of rhythm.

   Note

   Behind this form stands a transitive verb meaning to give something a particular rhythm, so it normally takes an object: a conductor rhythms an ensemble. The -s ending appears only with a singular third-person subject in the present; they rhythm and I rhythm drop it. It is spelled the same as the plural noun, and its position tells them apart: the verb follows a subject and governs an object.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2