Syncopation
in grammar, the contraction of a word by the omission of one or more letters or syllables from the middle. In music, suspension or alteration of rhythm by driving the accent to that part of a bar not usually accented.
Syncopation may be completed in a bar, or it may be carried by sequence through several bars, or it may be so that more than one bar is involved in the syncopation. Syncopated counterpoint is the fourth species of counterpoint.