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hemiola

Pronunciation: /ˌhɛmɪˈəʊlə/

Definition of hemiola

noun

Music
  • a musical figure in which, typically, two groups of three beats are replaced by three groups of two beats, giving the effect of a shift between triple and duple metre.

Origin:

late Middle English: via medieval Latin from Greek hēmiolia 'in the ratio of one and a half to one' (from hēmi- 'half' + holos 'whole')

hemiola in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of hemiola in the US English dictionary

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