coda

Definition

A passage that brings a movement or piece to a conclusion through prolongation.

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian coda (literally “tail”), from Latin cauda. Doublet of queue and cola.

Example Sentences

• "In classical music there are, as the analytical programs tell us, first subjects and second subjects, free fantasias, recapitulations, and codas; there are fugues, with counter-subjects, strettos, and pedal points; there are passacaglias on ground basses, canons ad hypodiapente, and other ingenuities, which have, after all, stood or fallen by their prettiness as much as the simplest folk-tune."
• "The word “salts” has three consonants — /l/, /t/, and /s/ — in its coda, whereas the word “glee” has no coda at all."
• "Downstairs, a little later, in the drawing room, the coda of the party was unwinding, and Gerald opening new bottles of champagne as though he made no distinction between the boring drunks who "sat," and the knowing few of the inner circle, gathered round the empty marble fireplace."

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