noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A musical form having a rhythm characterized by strong syncopation in the melody with a regularly accented accompaniment. uncountable
2. 2
   music with a syncopated melody (usually for the piano) wordnet
3. 3
   A piece of music in this style. countable

Verb

1. 1
   To perform this style of music. ambitransitive, uncommon

Synonyms

All synonyms

acid rockandanteandante tempoavant-garde jazzballroom musicbeat

Example

More examples

"They like ragtime, jazz and music with a swing to it."

Etymology

Likely from ragged + time, in reference to its heavy use of syncopation, or from rag, an American dialectal term for a dance ball.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.