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
Largo, who died on Friday, leaves behind a 12-year-old son.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Daniela Largo, 32, was pulled from the debris on Tuesday in the city of Pereira to shouts of joy and applause, becoming a symbol of hope for a nation reeling from Monday's disaster.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Daniela Largo was pulled from beneath a collapsed building in the city of Pereira after a 10-hour-long rescue operation.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Homeowners in the Key West-Key Largo, Fla., area are struggling: Their homes are taking the most time to sell, spending a median of 103 days on the market in June.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
Of course, it didn't help that the TV stations played Key Largo on one channel and a documentary on the "Great Hurricane of 1935" on the other.
From "Hole in My Life" by Jack Gantos
Instead, he fashioned what became his characteristic symphonic architecture: sprawling largos, martial rhythms and jagged melodic intervals.
From Time Magazine Archive
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 Mabel Wagnalls
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 Theron Brown
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 Frederick Herman Martens
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.
