ostinato
Americannoun
-
ostinatos
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ostinato
1875–80; < Italian: literally, obstinate < Latin obstinātus obstinate
Vocabulary lists containing ostinato
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:
An ostinato of generational trauma pervades “Descendant,” trauma that Thompson has experienced firsthand.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 6, 2023
A billion people might be able to instantly hum Williams’ two-note ostinato from “Jaws” or “The Imperial March” from “Star Wars.”
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 23, 2022
Its layers of rising figures in ostinato patterns, quickly changing meters, percussive passages of nearly breezy swing feel, along with others possessed of stark calamity, call to mind elements of musical history in unexpected ways.
From New York Times ● May 12, 2022
The Pasadena, California-based court said the eight-note pattern, known as an ostinato, consisted "entirely of commonplace musical elements" that lacked the "quantum of originality" needed for copyright protection.
From Reuters ● Mar. 10, 2022
The easiest way to find an ostinato is to take a short pattern right from the song itself.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
Rima Fand’s pleasant, folk-tinged score is illustrative rather than striking; the accompanying ensemble of mandolin, string quartet and bass, led from the piano by Mila Henry, plays a lot of ostinatos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 12, 2026
Giddens wrote her libretto for “Omar” and began sending Abels a slow deluge of recordings of lines — vocal lines, banjo ostinatos, keyboard melodies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2022
Hushed drones and ostinatos probably aren’t her route out of that cul-de-sac.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2020
As he’s gotten older, the pianist’s left hand has begun to overtake his famous right-hand ostinatos, and it gave the impression of thunder.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2018
Mr. Spindel elicited sharply defined, urgent playing that illuminated every mood of this haunting score, from the throbbing ostinatos and angry surges to meditative, eerie sweetness.
From New York Times ● Oct. 3, 2011
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.
