diminuendo

American  

[dih-min-yoo-en-doh] / dɪˌmɪn juˈɛn doʊ /

adjective

1. gradually reducing in force or loudness; decrescendo (opposed to crescendo).

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noun

• diminuendoes
  plural

1. a gradual reduction of force or loudness.

2. a diminuendo passage. >

diminuendo British  

/ dɪˌmɪnjʊˈɛndəʊ /

noun

1. 1. dim. a gradual decrease in loudness or the musical direction indicating this

   2. a musical passage affected by a diminuendo

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adjective

1. gradually decreasing in loudness

2. with a diminuendo

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• diminuendoes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of diminuendo

1765–75; < Italian, present participle of diminuire; see diminish

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

diminuendo diminuendoes

Seems to me that that last exchange between Paige and Elizabeth wasn't just a random diminuendo.

From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2017

In Mitchell’s case, the diminuendo was especially long, and his continued expectations for himself much higher.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 20, 2015

As each wave rolls in—booming, roaring, growling, hissing—I listen to its voice: the unique contours of its rising and falling, its singular crescendo and diminuendo.

From Slate ● Feb. 24, 2015

In Limonov, as a writer in search of a narrative line, Carrère struggles with this diminuendo.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 21, 2014

A sudden forte followed by a diminuendo or piano.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

Rifle-fire is as inconstant in volume as piano music; there is something of human effort to be heard in the "tap ... tap ... tap ... tap-tap-trrrrapp" of its crescendos and diminuendoes.

From "Contemptible", by "Casualty" by

He makes them dance for his pleasure, and you hear their breath come and go, in the swell and subsiding of those marvellous crescendoes and diminuendoes which set the strings pulsating like a sea.

From Plays, Acting and Music A Book Of Theory by Arthur Symons

Not only so, but the accompanying orchestra faithfully upheld and completed the symphony which rose and fell with crescendos and diminuendoes more glorious as the chorus pealed louder and nearer.

From The Trail of a Sourdough Life in Alaska by May Kellogg Sullivan

And instant by instant the flood of varicolored flame that poured into its petalings down from the sapphire ovoids waxed and waned in crescendoes and diminuendoes of relucent harmonies—ecstatic, awesome.

From The Metal Monster by Abraham Merritt

His delivery, with its sentimental diminuendoes and coquettish staccatoes, was reminiscent of the music-hall style, on which it was doubtless modelled.

From The Undying Past by Hermann Sudermann

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