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cae·su·ra also ce·su·ra  (sĭ-zhrə, -zrə)
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Tweet n. pl. cae·su·ras or cae·su·rae (-zhrē, -zrē) also ce·su·ras or ce·su·rae 1. A pause in a line of verse dictated by sense or natural speech rhythm rather than by metrics. 2. A pause or interruption, as in conversation: After another weighty caesura the senator resumed speaking. 3. In Latin and Greek prosody, a break in a line caused by the ending of a word within a foot, especially when this coincides with a sense division. 4. Music A pause or breathing at a point of rhythmic division in a melody. [Latin caesūra, a cutting, from caesus, past participle of caedere, to cut off; see kaə-id- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] cae·sural, cae·suric adj. |
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