Cantation
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A singing. obsolete, uncountable, usually
"These words were jabbered as fast as ever tongue could utter them, and when he had finished, up he jumped, again commenced the same mad rotations, and broke into the same extravagant cantation as before."
- 2 Synonym of incantation. uncountable, usually
"Whether or not there was any mystic virtue in the exorcisory cantation of the previous night, I cannot determine; but it is certain, that next morning, though headaches abounded among our officers, indications of the yellow fever there were none."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"These words were jabbered as fast as ever tongue could utter them, and when he had finished, up he jumped, again commenced the same mad rotations, and broke into the same extravagant cantation as before."
Etymology
Latin cantatio.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.