A dead body, especially one that is to be dissected; a corpse.

Since a corpse is a body that has “fallen down dead,” the root *cad-* seems at home here. For most of us, *cadaver* has an impersonal sound, and indeed the word is often used for a body whose identity isn't important: most medical students probably don't spend much time wondering who they're dissecting. Someone with *cadaverous* features looks like a corpse before he or she is dead.

Marked by decay or decline, especially in morals.

To be decadent is to be in the process of *decay*, so a powerful nation may be said to be in a decadent stage if its power is fading. But the word is more often used to speak of moral decay. Ever since the Roman empire, we've tended to link Rome's fall to the moral decay of its ruling class, who indulged in extreme luxuries and unwholesome pleasures while providing the public with cruel spectacles such as the slaughter of the gladiators. But not everyone agrees on what moral *decadence* looks like (or even how it might have hastened the fall of Rome), though most people think it involves too many sensual pleasures—as, for instance, among the French and English poets and artists of the 1880s and '90s called the Decadents. These days, for some reason, people have decided *decadent* is the way to describe rich chocolate cakes.

(1) The close of a musical phrase, especially one that moves to a harmonic point of rest. (2) The rhythmic flow of sound in language.

Most of us hear the ending of a piece of music as a fall to a resting place, even if the melody ends on a high note. And that's the way endings were being heard way back in the 16th century, when *cadence* first began to be used in English for musical endings. Most cadences are harmonic “formulas” (standard harmonic patterns that we've all heard thousands of times) and we don't expect them to be original; so whether you're consciously aware of it or not, a *cadential* passage is usually quite recognizable. When *cadence* means “speech rhythm,” its *cad-* root refers to the way the accents “fall.”

A concerto is a large piece for an instrumental soloist (usually playing piano or violin) and orchestra. Concertos are often extremely demanding for the soloist, but the most difficult part of all may be the cadenza, when the orchestra drops out completely, leaving the soloist to dazzle the audience with a set of flourishes, often completely original, right before a movement ends. Cadenzas are also heard in many vocal arias, especially those of the 18th century. The word, borrowed from Italian, originally meant “cadence” ; thus, the cadenza, even if it lasts for a couple of minutes, is essentially a decoration of the final important harmonic cadence of the piece.

(1) Something (such as a gift or speech) that is given or performed to show appreciation, respect, or affection. (2) Something that proves the good quality or effectiveness of something.

Tribute originally took the form of things given from a weaker group to the dominant power of a region—a bit like the “protection money” the Mafia gets from small businesses after making them offers they can't refuse, though the older form of tribute actually did buy the weaker group some protection from enemy forces. Tribute could come in the form of valuables, cattle, or even produce, and might include the loan of warriors to strengthen the ruler's army. But when we “pay tribute” today, it's generally in the form of praise. And when we say, for instance, that a successful school “is a tribute to” the vision of its founder, we mean that its success is itself a form of praise for the person who founded it. And a “tribute band” is a rock group intended to honor a great band of the past.

A stream flowing into a larger stream or a lake.

A tributary was originally a person or state that owed tribute to a more powerful person or state. Ancient China, for instance, had dozens of *tributary* states, and the emperor would receive elephants from Siam or young girls from Korea as tribute. Just as a smaller power gave some of its wealth to a larger power, a small river contributes its waters to a larger one. A tributary can be a tiny stream, but some are immense rivers. The Missouri River, for example, could be called a tributary to the Mississippi, even though it's about 2,500 miles long and receives hundreds of tributaries itself.

(1) To explain by indicating a cause. (2) To regard as likely to be a quality of a person or thing.

*Attribute* means something rather similar to “pay tribute.” So, for example, an award winner who pays tribute to an inspiring professor is, in a sense, attributing her success to the professor. Though if you attribute your fear of dogs to an incident in your childhood, you're not exactly praising the nasty dog that bit you way back when. The second sense of *attribute* is slightly different: If you attribute bad motives to a politician, it means you think he or she is doing things for the wrong reasons (even if you don't have any proof). When *attribute* is accented on its first syllable, it's being used as a noun, usually as a synonym for *quality*. So, for instance, you may believe that an even temper is an attribute of the best presidents, or that cheerfulness is your spouse's best attribute.

Something given in payment for a wrong; punishment.

With its prefix *re-*, meaning “back,” *retribution* means literally “payback.” And indeed we usually use it when talking about personal revenge, whether it's retribution for an insult in a high-school corridor or retribution for a guerrilla attack on a government building. But retribution isn't always so personal: God takes “divine retribution” on humans several times in the Old Testament, especially in the great Flood that wipes out almost the entire human race. And retribution for criminal acts, usually in the form of a prison sentence, is taken by the state, not the victims.