toccata

[ tuh-kah-tuh; Italian tawk-kah-tah ]

/ təˈkɑ tə; Italian tɔkˈkɑ tɑ /

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noun, plural toc·ca·tas, toc·ca·te

[tuh-kah-tee; Italian tawk-kah-te]. /təˈkɑ ti; Italian tɔkˈkɑ tɛ/. Music.

a composition in the style of an improvisation, for the piano, organ, or other keyboard instrument, intended to exhibit the player's technique.

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Origin of toccata

1715–25; <Italian: “touched,” feminine past participle of toccare touch

Words nearby toccata

to burn, toby, toby jug, TOC, Tocantins, toccata, Toch, Tocharian, tocher, toches, tockley

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use toccata in a sentence

Then it grows in strength, as if to compete with the Bach Toccata.
Plays--First Series|August Strindberg
But in Bach's hands the toccata becomes one of the noblest and most plastic of forms.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1|Various
Marise fumbled among the music on the piano and pulled out what they were working on, the Toccata in D minor.
Rough-Hewn|Dorothy Canfield
But the music was not all to the tune of “A Toccata of Galuppi's.”
The Life of Florence Nightingale vol. 1 of 2|Edward Tyas Cook

I wish you would send me Handel's six fugues and the toccata and fugues by Eberlin.
Life Of Mozart, Vol. 2 (of 3)|Otto Jahn

British Dictionary definitions for toccata

toccata

/ (təˈkɑːtə) /

noun

a rapid keyboard composition for organ, harpsichord, etc, dating from the baroque period, usually in a rhythmically free style

Word Origin for toccata

C18: from Italian, literally: touched, from toccare to play (an instrument), touch

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012