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allegretto

[al-i-gret-oh; Italian ahl-le-gret-taw]Music.
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adjective, adverb
  1. light, graceful, and moderately fast in tempo.
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noun, plural al·le·gret·tos.
  1. an allegretto movement.
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Origin of allegretto

1730–40; < Italian, equivalent to allegr(o) allegro + -etto -et
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for allegretto

Historical Examples

  • This Allegretto is continued until the theme is taken up in C minor.

    Life of Beethoven

    Anton Schindler

  • Allegretto energicamente, two-four, a merry, quick-step movement of two eight-bar periods.

    Nicolo Paganini: His Life and Work

    Stephen Samuel Stratton

  • The stillness of night and the shimmering moonlight are in the delicate harmonies of (Allegretto) strings.

  • Simple as the Allegretto appears in its suggestion of halting dance, the intent in the episodes is of the subtlest.

  • The first of the Eastern dances (allegretto quasi andante) is based upon a Turkish song in 6-8 measure.

    The Russian Opera

    Rosa Newmarch

British Dictionary definitions for allegretto

allegretto

adjective, adverb
  1. (to be performed) fairly quickly or briskly
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noun plural -tos
  1. a piece or passage to be performed in this manner
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Word Origin

C19: diminutive of allegro
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for allegretto

1740, from Italian allegretto, diminutive of allegro (q.v.).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper