legato

[ luh-gah-toh; Italian le-gah-taw ]

/ ləˈgɑ toʊ; Italian lɛˈgɑ tɔ /

adjective, adverb Music.

smooth and connected; without breaks between the successive tones.

Nearby words

Compare staccato.

Origin of legato

1805–15; < Italian, past participle of legare < Latin ligāre to bind

Related formsnon·le·ga·to, adjective

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

Examples from the Web for legato

La prego credere che io sono ora, e per tutta la mia vita sarò, a Lei legato di affezione, divozione e rispetto.
Diversions in Sicily|H. Festing Jones
Some allow pupils to practise only staccato, and others only legato, aiming thereby at nobody knows what.
Piano and Song|Friedrich Wieck
Legato means "bound together," for which we substitute the word "connected."
Piano Playing|Josef Hofmann
After one has been through a mass of such material, the matter of legato singing becomes more or less automatic.
Great Singers on the Art of Singing|James Francis Cooke

For example, the legato and symbols which indicate that difference ( and ) have therefore the greatest value.
Montessori Elementary Materials|Maria Montessori

British Dictionary definitions for legato

legato

/ (lɪˈɡɑːtəʊ) music /

adjective, adverb

to be performed smoothly and connectedly

noun plural -tos

a style of playing in which no perceptible gaps are left between notes
(as modifier)a legato passage

Word Origin for legato

C19: from Italian, literally: bound

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 legato

legato

1811, from Italian legato, literally "bound," past participle of legare, from Latin ligare (see ligament). Of music to be played smoothly, without intervals.