ragtime Hear it!

ragtime definition

☆ rag·time (rag′tīm′)

noun

  1. a type of American music, mostly composed but sometimes improvised, popular from about 1890 to 1920 and characterized by strong syncopation in even time: it was influential in the development of jazz
  2. its syncopated rhythm

Etymology: prob. < ragged time, in reference to syncopation

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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