pizzicato

American  

[pit-si-kah-toh, peet-tsee-kah-taw] / ˌpɪt sɪˈkɑ toʊ, ˌpit tsiˈkɑ tɔ /

adjective

1. played by plucking the strings with the finger instead of using the bow, as on a violin.

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noun

• pizzicati
  plural

1. a note or passage so played.

pizzicato British  

/ ˌpɪtsɪˈkɑːtəʊ /

adjective

1. (in music for the violin family) to be plucked with the finger

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noun

1. the style or technique of playing a normally bowed stringed instrument in this manner

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pizzicati
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of pizzicato

1835–45; < Italian, past participle of pizzicare to pluck, pick, twang (a stringed instrument)

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pizzicato pizzicati

“Sinners,” which Warner Bros. landed in a competitive bidding war, announced itself in a teaser that was simply blood and pizzicato strings.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 1, 2025

At his signal, the strings went off on a pizzicato run, buoyed by harps and congas, before dissolving into a bass drum pulse beneath simmering horns.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2023

Its dusty pizzicato tremolo had the predawn rustle of someone waking up and shuffling to the kitchen to prepare the morning’s brew before the household had awakened.

From New York Times ● Apr. 2, 2023

After that came gentle yet direct bowing; then, finally, forceful pizzicato.

From New York Times ● Sep. 30, 2022

When they landed at Calais, the gay pizzicato of the French tongue gave her such pleasure that she wanted to laugh out like a child suddenly tickled by light fingers.

From Shadows of Flames A Novel by Amélie Rives

In the first movement, she lined up emphatic pizzicati with the accents that Aimard plucked out of the solo part.

From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2023

“Chaos beckons,” Mr. Bartlett gently sings, but he’s belying the orderly intricacy of the music’s Minimalistic fabric of propulsive, gamelan-like bell tones, string-ensemble chords and pizzicati and wraithlike backing vocals, transparent yet rigorous.

From New York Times ● May 18, 2018

The alluring array of sounds included woodblocklike pizzicati by Ms. Derham and, in the second movement’s “Nocturno,” hollowed-out timbres and glassy harmonics.

From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2014

Oompah pizzicati and offbeat percussion accents add to the sense of humor.

From New York Times ● Jun. 7, 2013

And, leaning toward the orchestra, she explained, in her turn: pizzicati, mazurka, frog, swan, back-wheel, the waltz for the twirls, the march for the exit.

From The Bill-Toppers by J. André Castaigne

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