diminuendo
Americanadjective
noun
plural
diminuendoes-
a gradual reduction of force or loudness.
-
a diminuendo passage. >
noun
adjective
-
gradually decreasing in loudness
-
with a diminuendo
Etymology
Origin of diminuendo
1765–75; < Italian, present participle of diminuire; see diminish
Explanation
In music, diminuendo means gradually growing more quiet. When the sheet music calls for a diminuendo, that's definitely not the time to blow your trumpet as hard as you can. As they play, musicians don't simply follow the notes; musical notation includes a lot of additional information, including how fast to play, whether to be loud or quiet, and when to increase or decrease the volume. Diminuendo, which comes from the Latin root deminuere, or "diminish," instructs a pianist or cellist to quiet their playing, transitioning to a more gentle sound.
Vocabulary lists containing diminuendo
Music - Middle School
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Music - High School
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Vocabulary from Readings 2, Unit 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hatch appears in the forthcoming film Diminuendo, written and directed by Bryn Pryor and also starring Chloe Dykstra, Leah Cairns, Gigi Edgley and Walter Koenig.
From The Guardian • Feb. 7, 2017
As befits the virtuosic boss, Smith also gets to remake Paul Gonsalves's legendary multi-chorus sax jam on Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue as the roof-raising finale.
From The Guardian • Mar. 14, 2013
Duke Ellington's Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue Jazz was finding itself in a changed world by the mid-1950s – though not all the changes disadvantaged it.
From The Guardian • Apr. 6, 2010
An audible report on the highly charged performance of Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue, which set Newport bloods to stomping up the aisles last summer.
From Time Magazine Archive
Like laughter jolly Begins the finale; Again does the 'cello its tones seem to lend Diminuendo ad molto crescendo.
From The Book of American Negro Poetry by Johnson, James Weldon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
