portamento

American  

[pawr-tuh-men-toh, pohr-, pawr-tah-men-taw] / ˌpɔr təˈmɛn toʊ, ˌpoʊr-, ˌpɔr tɑˈmɛn tɔ /

noun

Music.

plural

portamenti, portamentos

1. a passing or gliding from one pitch or tone to another with a smooth progression.

---

portamento British  

/ ˌpɔːtəˈmɛntəʊ /

noun

1. music a smooth slide from one note to another in which intervening notes are not separately discernible Compare glissando

---

Etymology

Origin of portamento

1765–75; < Italian: fingering, literally, a bearing, carrying. See port ⁵, -ment

Compare meaning

How does portamento compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• portamento vs. glissando

Example Sentences

Treating the solo part as something in a Romantic-era concerto of yore, she was all sentiment all the time, including lots of emotive vibrato and startling portamento leaps in the slow movements.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 15, 2023

So he came up with a pitch-bender and a portamento on it ... and I got it, real quick.”

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 5, 2017

Ms. Koh’s account of the “Riconoscenza” is particularly striking for its rich tone and its evocative touches of portamento.

From New York Times • Aug. 19, 2010

Vocal style usually went out the window when he saw a chance to prolong a honeyed mezza voce, a thundering high B-flat, a sob, a gulp or a tearful portamento.

From Time Magazine Archive

Figure 1.87: The notation for scoops and fall-offs has not been standardized, but either one will look something like a portamento or slur with a note on one end only.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones