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cantabile

[ kahn-tah-bi-ley, -bee-, kuhn-; Italian kahn-tah-bee-le ]

adjective

  1. songlike and flowing in style.


adverb

  1. in a cantabile manner.

cantabile

/ kænˈtɑːbɪlɪ /

adjective

  1. (to be performed) in a singing style, i.e. flowingly and melodiously
“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


noun

  1. a piece or passage performed in this way
“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
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Word History and Origins

Origin of cantabile1

1720–30; < Italian < Late Latin cantābilis worth singing, equivalent to Latin cantā ( re ) to sing ( cant 1 ) + -bilis -ble
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Word History and Origins

Origin of cantabile1

Italian, from Late Latin cantābilis, from Latin cantāre to sing
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Example Sentences

She has a very excellent violin, a Stradivari, and in the cantabile draws from it a tolerable tone; but that is her only merit.

This 10-syllable measure is cantabile, and its phrases are too short and too regular to make good recitative verse.

The finished beauty of the violin 'voice' is a round, sustained, absolutely smooth cantabile tone.

In the two latter songs the simple Cantabile is embellished by bravura passages, which are wanting altogether in the first.

The Adagio cantabile is one of the purest examples of a style of music which has become a thing of the past.

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can't abideCantabrian Mountains