phrasing

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɹeɪzɪŋ/

phrasing

1. present participle of phrase

phrasing (plural phrasings)

1. The way a statement is put together, particularly in matters of style and word choice.

   1870 But for the Sir Walter disease, the character of the Southerner -- or Southron, according to Sir Walter's starchier way of phrasing it -- would be wholly modern, in place of modern and medieval mixed, and the South would be fully a generation further advanced than it is. Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, Chapter 46.

2. (music) The way the musical phrases are put together in a composition or in its interpretation, with changes in tempo, volume, or emphasizing one or more instruments over others.

   1891 The grand difficulty in the opening andante movement of Casta Diva lies in its broad, sustained phrasing, in the long, generous undulation of its rhythm, which with most singers drags or gets broken out of symmetry. Jenny Lind conceived and did it truly. Joel Benton, Life of Hon. Phineas T. Barnum, Chapter 17.

• harpings, sharping