Definition of "antiphonal" []

• Relating to or resembling an antiphon. (adjective)
• Answering responsively, as in antiphony. (adjective)
• Occurring or responding in turns; alternating: "this curious antiphonal relationship between the two men” ( Henry A. Kissinger). (adjective)
• An antiphonary. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The church had two choir lofts, so Gabrieli and other composers often wrote music that would bounce from choir to the other (called antiphonal) and later wrote the same for "choirs" of brass players."
• "A lyric may be a solo, or the matter may be arranged for 'antiphonal' performance between different performers, e.g. choruses of Men and of Women."
• "This is seen by the 'antiphonal' distribution of the matter, for example, between choruses of men and women, and by the recurrence of passages ( 'refrains')."