Sequence

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The state of being sequent; succession; order of following; arrangement. How art thou a king But by fair sequence and succession Shak. Sequence and series of the seasons of the year. Bacon.

2. That which follows or succeeds as an effect; sequel; consequence; result. The inevitable sequences of sin and punishment. Bp. Hall.

3. Simple succession, or the coming after in time, without asserting or implying causative energy; as, the reactions of chemical agents may be conceived as merely invariable sequences.

4. Any succession of chords (or harmonic phrase) rising or falling by the regular diatonic degrees in the same scale; a succession of similar harmonic steps.

5. A melodic phrase or passage successively repeated one tone higher; a rosalia.

6. A hymn introduced in the Mass on certain festival days, and recited or sung immediately before the gospel, and after the gradual or introit, whence the name. Bp. Fitzpatrick. Originally the sequence was called a Prose, because its early form was rhythmical prose. Shipley.