How to Use time signature in a Sentence

time signature

noun
  • The time signatures of Dipset beats.
    — Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 16 June 2026
  • There are short lessons on time signature and melody and her favorite vocal warm-ups.
    — Arika Herron, Indianapolis Star, 4 May 2020
  • The track heaves and stretches, its beat slipping through wild time signatures and then pausing for breath.
    — Randall Roberts, latimes.com, 25 May 2018
  • Most of the track is in 5/4 [time signature], which is a very unusual time.
    — Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 27 Mar. 2024
  • Our songs tend to be in time signatures other than 4/4 – like 6/8.
    — Ed Masley, azcentral, 6 Sep. 2019
  • Well, there’s lots of time signature parts that went into the writing of just me on an acoustic guitar.
    — Annie Zaleski, SPIN, 20 Sep. 2022
  • With its fast-changing time signatures and off-kilter melodies, this song is treacherous ground for any singer.
    — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 May 2025
  • Many bands mash up styles of music, types of instrumentation, or time signatures.
    — Jamie Ludwig, Chicago Reader, 2 May 2018
  • That time signature is way too convoluted.
    — Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 25 Feb. 2026
  • And each of the musical notes has a time signature associated with it.
    — Sean Gallagher, Ars Technica, 29 Aug. 2019
  • McCartney noted that, at that point, there are two time signatures happening at once.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 17 Apr. 2026
  • In one song, the ensemble began with a steady rhythm before splitting into two clashing time signatures at once.
    — Kate Armanini, BostonGlobe.com, 4 June 2023
  • The time signatures and rhythms contort like snakes in a bag (though sticking to 7/4 for a lot of it provides a strange cohesion).
    — Christopher R. Weingarten, EW.com, 1 Sep. 2019
  • The Turk arrives with Mediterranean treats in eccentric time signatures.
    — Tim Davis, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2024
  • Evans strung some serpentine riffs over the tune’s unconventional time signature.
    — Dan Emerson, Twin Cities, 26 Dec. 2019
  • Everything is off-balance, including the time signature, which is in 5/4.
    — Nate Jones, Vulture, 20 May 2024
  • Everything is off-balance, including the time signature, which is in 5/4.
    — Nate Jones, Vulture, 20 May 2024
  • Meanwhile, adding to the sense of crisis, albeit on a different time signature, Venice continues to sink as sea levels rise.
    — Washington Post, 22 Apr. 2022
  • For the chip to generate this tune, it was sequentially loaded with songs in the same time signature (which specifies how many beats are in each bar of music) and style.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 23 May 2017
  • Watts begins gently but instantly ramps up the intensity with a couple of snare cracks, shifting the time signature to lead up into the vocals.
    — Jem Aswad, Variety, 24 Aug. 2021
  • The tricky 5-4 time signature provided an exciting extra kick.
    — Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 28 Feb. 2021
  • Well, even nondrummers have to be in awe of his ability to turn percussion into a new dimension, with varied time signatures and tempos.
    — Chuck Yarborough, cleveland, 12 Jan. 2020
  • Ulicny achieves this by harnessing a twangy guitar and buoyant percussion that manically switch time signatures at whiplash speed.
    — Washington Post, 7 June 2019
  • The Rainbow tracks feature drummer Alan White, who handles hours of intricate time signatures with aplomb.
    — Ernesto Lechner, Rolling Stone, 6 Mar. 2025
  • Lage took his new music to Chicago, where Jeff Tweedy suggested tweaks — a chord alteration here, a change of time signature there.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 9 June 2021
  • Roeder decided to test Lage by abruptly altering the time signature in a standard to one from his native Peru.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 9 June 2021
  • That means there have been three alterations to the category count in just five years, and, honestly, a 5/3 time signature doesn’t exist for a reason.
    — Vulture, 16 June 2023
  • Irwin said that the characters’ runaway emotions are mirrored by the wildly fluctuating time signatures.
    — Mary Carole McCauley, Baltimore Sun, 25 Jan. 2024
  • By pairing atomic and nuclear clocks side by side, physicists can monitor tiny variations in their time signatures that could betray dark matter’s presence.
    — New Atlas, 16 Sep. 2025
  • Probably because at the time many of the time signatures and chordal progressions that Miles used were over the head of a young guitar player still functioning in the blues and folk idioms.
    — Steve Baltin, Los Angeles Times, 25 May 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'time signature.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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