Meanings
plural cadenzas · plural cadenze
- entertainmentA part of a piece of music, such as a concerto, that is very decorative and is played by a single musician.
Yes, laugh, as I want to laugh for instance in the concert hall when the orchestra trundles to a stop and the virtuoso at his piano, hunched like a demented vet before the bared teeth of this enormous black beast of sound, lifts up deliquescent hands and prepares to plunge into the cadenza.
1993, John Banville, Ghosts
present singular third person cadenzas · participle present cadenzaing · participle past cadenzaed · past cadenzaed
- South AfricaslangTo become agitated or excited.
Origin
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 华彩
- 华彩 (huá cǎi)decorative solo piece of music
French cadence
- cadencedecorative solo piece of music
German Kadenz
- Kadenzdecorative solo piece of music
Hungarian kadencia
- kadenciadecorative solo piece of music
Italian cadenza
- cadenzadecorative solo piece of music
Māori wāhanga takitahi
- wāhanga takitahidecorative solo piece of music
Russian каде́нция
- каде́нция (kadɛ́ncija)decorative solo piece of music
Ukrainian каде́нція
- каде́нція (kadéncija)decorative solo piece of music
Cite this entry
cadenza. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cadenza
“cadenza.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cadenza. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cadenza,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cadenza.
Source: cadenza on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.