ostinato

[os-ti-nah-toh, aws-tee-nah-taw]

noun

Music.

plural

ostinatos 

1. a constantly recurring melodic fragment.

ostinato

/ ˌɒstɪˈnɑːtəʊ /

noun

1. 1. a continuously reiterated musical phrase

   2. ( as modifier )

      an ostinato passage

Word History and Origins

Origin of ostinato¹

1875–80; < Italian: literally, obstinate < Latin obstinātus obstinate

Word History and Origins

Origin of ostinato¹

Italian: from Latin obstinātus _obstinate

Example Sentences

Laid across this ostinato are various storylines involving recruits working out the issues that have brought them to this Parris Island of Misfit Boys.

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After opening with a moody guitar ostinato, Beyoncé enters with the dark, melodramatic storytelling of a murder ballad, with a refrain like something out of “Carmen” in its bravado and rustic flavor.

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“I remember getting chills the first time the ostinato started.”

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“River Niger” has an infectious and captivating energy, rooted on a rhythmic B-flat minor ostinato, yet open in form with each soloist leading us on a journey throughout the recording.

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He, too, teased out details — a dancing ostinato in the basses near the end, prominent from the moment it started, took on a relentless terror — but didn’t sacrifice momentum or primal energy.

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