ritardando
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of ritardando
1805–15; < Italian, gerund of ritardare; see retard
Compare meaning
How does ritardando compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
When you come to a passage marked ritardando in a piece of music, you know you need to start decreasing the tempo. Like most instructions in music, ritardando is Italian. It means "gradually slowing down," and is usually abbreviated to ritard. or rit. Like -endo, the ending -ando indicates a process, or a gradual change. Rallentando also means "gradually slowing down," but the two instructions are used differently. Rallentando usually applies when the tempo is about to change from a faster section to a slower one, whereas ritardando is used at the end of a piece, where it slows gradually to a complete stop.
Vocabulary lists containing ritardando
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.
Indris also showed the ability to maintain a constant rhythm as they decreased the tempo of their songs, a process known as ritardando in classical music.
From Scientific American • Oct. 25, 2021
Kurt Herbert Adler, 75, is one veteran opera maestro whose tempos are non ritardando.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the second part Beethoven introduced the phrase in A flat major, by a ritardando of the two preceding bars.
From Life of Beethoven by Schindler, Anton
On the other hand, in the performance of a crescendo passage, he would make the time ritardando, which produced a beautiful and highly striking effect.
From Life of Beethoven by Schindler, Anton
When there is a ritardando and it becomes necessary to give a larger number of beats in order to show just how much slower the tempo is to be.
From Essentials in Conducting by Gehrkens, Karl Wilson
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.
