Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or having rhythm; recurring with measured regularity.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Same as rhythmical.
  • noun Same as rhythmics.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Pertaining to, or of the nature of, rhythm.
  • adjective (Mus.) See Accent, n., 6 (c).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or relating to rhythm.
  • adjective Characterized by rhythm.
  • adjective Written in verse, especially rhyming verse.
  • adjective With regular, repetitive motion or sound.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective recurring with measured regularity

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ῥύθμικος (rhythmikos), from ῥυθμός (rhuthmos, "measured flow or movement, symmetry, rhythm"), from ῥέω (rheō, "flow, run, stream, gush"), + adjective suffix -ικος (-ikos).

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Examples

  • Yet did it quiver under the finger-tip caress in rhythmic vibrations that became whisperings and rustlings and mutterings of sound - but of sound so different; so elusively thin that it was shimmeringly sibilant; so mellow that it was maddening sweet, piping like an elfin horn, which last was just what Bassett decided would be like a peal from some bell of the gods reaching earthward from across space.

    THE RED ONE 2010

  • You know and, particularly, I'm interested in rhythmic concepts from South Indian music, and so, I work with a lot of these elements in my music.

    Vijay Iyer: Self-Taught Jazz Pianist Goes 'Solo' 2010

  • Still, the torment was worth it for the precious few minutes he had with them when they were neither awake nor asleep, when they were finally still and their breath began to flatten out in rhythmic heaviness, when their bodies fell slack and rolled in toward him, toward the black-hole depression that he occupied in the middle of the mattress.

    Furlough 2009

  • As Mackenzie threw him into the snow, he caught a glimpse of the swaying forms before the council-fire, heard the deep basses of the men in rhythmic chant, and knew the Shaman was fanning the anger of his people.

    The Sun of the Wolf 2010

  • You know and, particularly, I'm interested in rhythmic concepts from South Indian music, and so, I work with a lot of these elements in my music.

    Vijay Iyer: Self-Taught Jazz Pianist Goes 'Solo' 2010

  • Still, the torment was worth it for the precious few minutes he had with them when they were neither awake nor asleep, when they were finally still and their breath began to flatten out in rhythmic heaviness, when their bodies fell slack and rolled in toward him, toward the black-hole depression that he occupied in the middle of the mattress.

    Furlough 2009

  • As Mackenzie threw him into the snow, he caught a glimpse of the swaying forms before the council-fire, heard the deep basses of the men in rhythmic chant, and knew the Shaman was fanning the anger of his people.

    The Son of the Wolf 2010

  • You know and, particularly, I'm interested in rhythmic concepts from South Indian music, and so, I work with a lot of these elements in my music.

    Vijay Iyer: Self-Taught Jazz Pianist Goes 'Solo' 2010

  • Kanaeva wins gold for Russia in rhythmic gymnastics

    Kanaeva wins gold for Russia in rhythmic gymnastics 2008

  • Kanaeva wins gold for Russia in rhythmic gymnastics - USATODAY. com

    Kanaeva wins gold for Russia in rhythmic gymnastics 2008

Comments

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  • "On the first day of racing, August 11, the blind stallion Rhythmic ... won the $10,000 Bonner Memorial Trot, and his trainer, Scott Hudson, explained to the New York reporting crew, which even then thought a story was never told until they told it, that no, he wasn't scared to drive the horse; Rhythmic, he patiently explained for the thousandth time, sensed where the other horses and the rail were, and kept himself out of trouble. (Several months later Hudson would be amazed to discover that the speedy Rhythmic was deaf, too.)"

    —Charles Leerhsen, Crazy Good: The True Story of Dan Patch (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008), 203

    This is harness racing (Standardbred). Also...

    "Guided by what his trainer Scott Hudson insisted at the time was a heightened sense of hearing that made him even safer to drive than a normal horse, Rhythmic won the $5,000 Woodruff Stakes that day in straight heats." (p. 219)

    October 27, 2008