How to Use syncopation in a Sentence

syncopation

noun

• Brass and winds beat out syncopations as though every left turn were a right turn.
  — Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2019
• There's a, there's a deal, a, a deal of, uh, syncopation and the harmonies are rather opaque.
  — Deborah Unger, Scientific American, 5 Nov. 2025
• What better sign that summer is around the corner than the sound of syncopation and the taste of rum.
  — cleveland.com, 26 May 2017
• These include quirky syncopations in need of a nimble rhythmic touch to catch their sly humor.
  — Mark Swed, latimes.com, 8 Aug. 2017
• And then there is the rush created by Wainaina’s language, which moves to its own syncopation.
  — Anderson Tepper, New York Times, 29 May 2023
• The boogie-woogie backup vocals and quirky syncopation from the lyrics give the whole thing a lovable kiss of kitsch.
  — Los Angeles Times, 22 Dec. 2022
• In a 10-minute span there’s frenzied stamp, swirl and syncopation, sometimes layered in busy textures.
  — Dallas News, 24 Feb. 2023
• The result was a rough-and-tumble rush in which melodic cross-currents and catch-up-if-you-can syncopations swallowed each other up.
  — Marcus Overton, sandiegouniontribune.com, 26 May 2018
• Once again in pop history, a singer attempts to convey new edge, new danger, by trying on a little more syncopation.
  — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 20 Oct. 2017
• Quick-jabbing triplets had been a staple of rap, but the trio made the style sound fresh, thanks in large part to Takeoff, its master of syncopation.
  — Jon Caramanica, New York Times, 1 Nov. 2022
• Most tappers at the time danced on their toes, but Bubbles brought his heels down, adding rhythmic complexity and syncopation.
  — Sarah L. Kaufman, Washington Post, 22 May 2022
• But harmonic subversions slip in, and a quasi-hoedown evolves into jazzy syncopations.
  — Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 18 Feb. 2020
• Lots of syncopation and kooky instruments, as well as clear melodies, keep the sonic landscape interesting.
  — Veronique Greenwood, Discover Magazine, 7 June 2012
• And in this performance there was no missing Bernstein’s love of jazz syncopation and rhythmic propulsion.
  — Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 13 July 2018
• Unevenness or syncopation within a piece of prose or a work of art or a piece of music are, for me, what bring that thing closer to the real rhythms of a person's mind.
  — Seija Rankin, EW.com, 18 May 2021
• Frehley picks up on the drummer’s simmering syncopation hereand unleashes a banshee-like howl of a solo that still clings to the band’s rhythm.
  — A.d. Amorosi, Variety, 17 Oct. 2025
• The Black fiddler gave the idea of syncopation to what would become the genre; the banjo’s origins lie in West Africa.
  — Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2024
• Suits is like those series, only more so, its writing, directing, acting, and staging honed to a dapper syncopation.
  — James Wolcott, HWD, 27 Apr. 2018
• Foot percussion underpinned all that, the constant that every syncopation pulled against.
  — New York Times, 26 Apr. 2022
• Currents slowed tempos, beefed up arrangements, and invited dance and hip-hop syncopation into the picture.
  — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 4 Aug. 2021
• Beck’s electric guitar opens with twangy rockabilly syncopation, sets up the choppy piano groove and pointedly spurs things along.
  — Jon Pareles, New York Times, 12 Jan. 2023
• What a thrill to hear the unmistakable syncopations, the spikes and leaps and the intermittent yearning silkiness of this music, one last first time.
  — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 23 Oct. 2023
• Unique to dembow is also how the music is danced, which clearly draws from footwork inherent to juke, syncopation in breakdancing, and afrobeats movement.
  — Marjua Estevez, refinery29.com, 24 Mar. 2022
• Popular music is more diverse and eclectic than ever, driven as much by synth musings and syncopation as power chords and soaring solos.
  — Patrik Jonsson, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 May 2018
• Two slack-jawed, bare- foot drummers are wailing a caveman beat in unison—their syncopation and their short, efficient haircuts mark them as obvious members of a cult.
  — Pat Blashill, Rolling Stone, 28 Aug. 2025
• The syncopation of transparent and opaque windows, alternating with ashlar panels, can suggest the patterns of kente cloth.
  — Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, 12 Dec. 2022
• To do it under the brightest lights and best competition, in the playoffs, brings a special aura to players who orchestrate such high-stakes games to their own syncopation.
  — David Aldridge, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2026
• The solution was incorporating polyrhythms and syncopation to add greater variety to the timing.
  — Oliver Sava, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2025
• His training sessions can be jagged, unpredictable, and characterized by syncopation.
  — Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 28 Oct. 2025
• The waves rolling into the shore make cascades of sound, sometimes regular rhythms and sometimes duples and triples and offbeat syncopations—all set against the arpeggios and glissandos of the birds.
  — Alan Hirshfeld, WSJ, 6 Apr. 2018