coda

¹

[koh-duh]

noun

1. Music.,  a more or less independent passage, at the end of a composition, introduced to bring it to a satisfactory close.

2. Ballet.,  the concluding section of a ballet, especially the final part of a pas de deux.

3. a concluding section or part, especially one of a conventional form and serving as a summation of preceding themes, motifs, etc., as in a work of literature or drama.

4. anything that serves as a concluding part.

5. Phonetics.,  the segment of a syllable following the nucleus, as the d- sound in good.

CODA

²

[koh-duh]

abbreviation

1. child of deaf adultadults: a hearing person with a deaf parent or parents.

coda

/ ˈkəʊdə /

noun

1. music the final, sometimes inessential, part of a musical structure

2. a concluding part of a literary work, esp a summary at the end of a novel of further developments in the lives of the characters

coda

1. An ending to a piece of music, standing outside the formal structure of the piece. Coda is the Italian word for “tail.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of coda¹

First recorded in 1745–55; from Italian, from Latin cauda “tail”; queue

Origin of coda²

First recorded in 1990–95

Word History and Origins

Origin of coda¹

C18: from Italian: tail, from Latin cauda

Example Sentences

The ending, impeded by a retrospective coda, diminishes the full cathartic impact.

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A poetic coda read by Mr. Hopkins brings yet more depth to this superb recording.

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It’s safe to say that Cuomo did not wrap up this bizarre and embarrassing coda to his political career with grace.

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The book’s last and shortest entry, the fabular “The Old Man in the Piazza,” makes for a somewhat slight coda.

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If he thought his return to the laboratory would be a placid coda to his career, he was soon proved wrong, by yet another advance in genetic engineering, this one called CRISPR.

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Related Words

• afterword 
• postscript 
• summation