imperfect cadence
Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)
1.Not perfect; not complete in all its parts; wanting a part; deective; deficient. [1913 Webster]
Something he left imperfect in the state.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
Why, then, your other senses grow imperfect.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
2.Wanting in some elementary organ that is essential to successful or normal activity. [1913 Webster]
He . . . stammered like a child, or an amazed, imperfect person.— Jer. Taylor.[1913 Webster]
3.Not fulfilling its design; not realizing an ideal; not conformed to a standard or rule; not satisfying the taste or conscience; esthetically or morally defective. [1913 Webster]
Nothing imperfect or deficient left Of all that he created.— Milton.[1913 Webster]
Then say not man's imperfect, Heaven in fault; Say rather, man's as perfect as he ought.— Pope.[1913 Webster]
Imperfect arch, an arch of less than a semicircle; a skew arch.
Imperfect cadence (Mus.), one not ending with the tonic, but with the dominant or some other chord; one not giving complete rest; a half close.
Imperfect consonances (Mus.), chords like the third and sixth, whose ratios are less simple than those of the fifth and forth.
Imperfect flower (Bot.), a flower wanting either stamens or pistils. --Gray.
Imperfect interval (Mus.), one a semitone less than perfect; as, an imperfect fifth.
Imperfect number (Math.), a number either greater or less than the sum of its several divisors; in the former case, it is called also a defective number; in the latter, an abundant number.
Imperfect obligations (Law), obligations as of charity or gratitude, which cannot be enforced by law.
Imperfect power (Math.), a number which can not be produced by taking any whole number or vulgar fraction, as a factor, the number of times indicated by the power; thus, 9 is a perfect square, but an imperfect cube.
Imperfect tense (Gram.), a tense expressing past time and incomplete action. [1913 Webster]
1.The act or state of declining or sinking. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
Now was the sun in western cadence low.— Milton.[1913 Webster]
2.A fall of the voice in reading or speaking, especially at the end of a sentence. [1913 Webster]
3.A rhythmical modulation of the voice or of any sound; as, music of bells in cadence sweet. [1913 Webster]
Blustering winds, which all night long Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull Seafaring men o'erwatched.— Milton.[1913 Webster]
The accents . . . were in passion's tenderest cadence.— Sir W. Scott.[1913 Webster]
4.Rhythmical flow of language, in prose or verse. [1913 Webster]
Golden cadence of poesy.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
If in any composition much attention was paid to the flow of the rhythm, it was said (at least in the 14th and 15th centuries) to be "prosed in faire cadence."— Dr. Guest.[1913 Webster]
5.(Her.) See Cadency. [1913 Webster]
6.(Man.) Harmony and proportion in motions, as of a well-managed horse. [1913 Webster]
7.(Mil.) A uniform time and place in marching. [1913 Webster]
8.(Mus.) (a) The close or fall of a strain; the point of rest, commonly reached by the immediate succession of the tonic to the dominant chord. (b) A cadenza, or closing embellishment; a pause before the end of a strain, which the performer may fill with a flight of fancy. [1913 Webster]
Imperfect cadence. (Mus.) See under Imperfect. [1913 Webster]