tempo
[tem-poh]
- Music. relative rapidity or rate of movement, usually indicated by such terms as adagio, allegro, etc., or by reference to the metronome.
- characteristic rate, rhythm, or pattern of work or activity: the tempo of city life.
- Chess. the gaining or losing of time and effectiveness relative to one's continued mobility or developing position, especially with respect to the number of moves required to gain an objective: Black gained a tempo.
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Origin of tempo
1680–90; < Italian < Latin tempus time
a tempo
[ah-tem-poh; Italian ah-tem-paw]
- resuming the speed obtained preceding ritardando or accelerando.
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Origin of a tempo
1730–40; < Italian: in (the regular) time
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for tempo
Contemporary Examples
At the same time, it has escalated the tempo of aerial bombardment and resumed its scorched earth campaign against civilians.
Satellites Correctly Predict Military Campaign Against Civilians in SudanAkshaya Kumar
December 9, 2013
Rather it is the time to increase the size and tempo of guerrilla attacks even through the coming, bitterly cold Afghan winter.
Crisis, pause, crisis, pause: this has been the tempo of North Korean behavior since the end of the Cold War.
Now, with the campaign over, President Obama must set the tempo for a second term.
With Bachmann hanging back, Romney seized control of the tempo in what may have been his strongest performance so far.
Historical Examples
And outside that foul transparent pit the tempo quickened also.
Under Arctic IceH.G. Winter
The ticking did not change its tempo until she came to her waist.
The Moon is GreenFritz Reuter Leiber
Tempo: Adagio lamentoso, with occasionally a rise to andante maesto.
A Book of BurlesquesH. L. Mencken
He speaks of three kinds of tempo—lively, moderate and slow.
A Popular History of the Art of MusicW. S. B. Mathews
He and his baton are your friends and are giving you your tempo.
The Art of Stage DancingNed Wayburn
tempo
- the speed at which a piece or passage of music is meant to be played, usually indicated by a musical direction (tempo marking) or metronome marking
- rate or pace
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Word Origin
C18: from Italian, from Latin tempus time
a tempo
- to the original tempo
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- a passage thus marked
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Also: tempo primo
Word Origin
Italian: in (the original) time
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for tempo
n.
"relative speed of a piece of music," 1724, from Italian tempo, literally "time" (plural tempi), from Latin tempus (genitive temporis) "time" (see temporal). Extended to non-musical senses 1898.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
tempo
In music, the speed at which a piece is performed. It is the Italian word for “time.”
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.