largo
adjective
slow; in a broad, dignified style.
largo
1 American
[lahr-goh]
/ ˈlɑr goʊ /
adjective
noun
largos
plural
Largo
2
American
[lahr-goh]
/ ˈlɑr goʊ /
noun
largo
British
/ ˈlɑːɡəʊ /
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of largo
From Italian, dating back to 1675–85; see origin at large
Explanation
Music played or sung largo is slow and dignified, giving it a serious or solemn vibe. There isn't a lot of hurried movement between beats in a largo piece, so you probably won't see many eighth or sixteenth notes. Largo literally means "wide" or "broad" in Italian — but what does "broad" mean in music? It means that performing the music slowly shouldn’t result in a greater focus on the individual notes and chords. Rather, the focus should be on the "big picture" of the music, giving a sense of each musical phrase and its place in the flow of the whole piece. In that way, even though the music is slow, the listener feels swept along on a current of movement.
Vocabulary lists containing largo
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.
See Examples For:
The music, like the story, became more openly emotional; for every cunning rondo, there was a doleful largo.
From New York Times ● May 25, 2023
Even Elham, her W’s no longer sounding like V’s, and her tempo improved from largo to allegretto, is eventually able to pose a challenge to Omid’s fluency.
From New York Times ● Feb. 22, 2022
They say the gulf side of largo is dry.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 11, 2017
Worked over in a mournful, reflective, nearly fugue-like largo in the first movement, the motif becomes hysterically repeated in the second movement, as if the composer were relentlessly interrogating himself.
From The New Yorker ● May 26, 2016
By comparing this to the longest-lasting written notes of the period, researchers have painstakingly teased out what composers might have expected from slower directions such as largo and adagio.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Intimacy was key to the sold-out “Andrew Bird and Friends” concert, which took over Largo on Saturday to benefit mental health organizations for healthcare workers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
Hay first reported the assaults to police in Largo, Fla., he has said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
My favorite thing that I get to do once a month is Largo at the Coronet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2026
Access to a number of sites that currently charge for entry will become free for Rome's residents, such as the Sacred Area of Largo Argentina.
From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2025
My mother said, “We’ve got an appointment with a therapist in Key Largo, as soon as Paine gets off house arrest.”
From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen
Instead, he fashioned what became his characteristic symphonic architecture: sprawling largos, martial rhythms and jagged melodic intervals.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Leclair sonata in D minor we have played some three hundred times; and its slow movement is one of the most beautiful largos I know of in all chamber music.
From Violin Mastery Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers by Martens, Frederick Herman
Tripping allegrettos sounded sweeter to the vulgar sense than the old largos of Pope Gregory the Great.
From The Story of the Hymns and Tunes by Brown, Theron
The phrases are separated by frequent "rests," the "moderatos" have developed into "largos;" the "rubatos" are exaggerated, and finally this sweet-voiced boatswain falls asleep.
From Stars of the Opera by Wagnalls, Mabel
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.
