cantabile

[kahn-tah-bi-ley, -bee-, kuh n-; Italian kahn-tah-bee-le]Music.

adjective

songlike and flowing in style.

adverb

in a cantabile manner.

Origin of cantabile

1720–30; < Italian < Late Latin cantābilis worth singing, equivalent to Latin cantā(re) to sing (see cant¹) + -bilis -ble

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cantabile

Historical Examples of cantabile

After the exposition of the subject, the violin has figure-playing of an easy kind, while the violoncello has a Cantabile theme.
Nicolo Paganini: His Life and Work
Stephen Samuel Stratton
Trio in D major, Cantabile theme for violin, doubled by the viola in the octave below.
Nicolo Paganini: His Life and Work
Stephen Samuel Stratton
He executes the most difficult passages with the most extraordinary ease, and especially pours out his heart in the Cantabile.
The Violoncello and Its History
Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski
Wilhelmj drew from his instrument the noblest sounds I ever heard; not Joachim, not Ysaye excelled him in cantabile.
Unicorns
James Huneker
The cantabile slow movement, modeled somewhat after the Italian cantilena, was his.
A Popular History of the Art of Music
W. S. B. Mathews

British Dictionary definitions for cantabile

cantabile

adjective, adverb

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

noun

a piece or passage performed in this way

Word Origin for cantabile

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

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 cantabile

adj.

1724, from Italian, literally "singable, that can be sung," from cantare "to sing" (see chant (v.)).