Definition of crescendo in English:
crescendo
See synonyms for crescendo on Thesaurus.comTranslate crescendo into Spanish
nounplural noun crescendos, plural noun crescendi
1The loudest point reached in a gradually increasing sound.
‘the port engine's sound rose to a crescendo’- ‘the roar of the crowd reaches a crescendo’
- 1.1A gradually increasing sound.‘a crescendo of shrieks built until the entire auditorium was filled’
- ‘he faced a crescendo of boos every time he touched the ball’
2The highest point reached in a progressive increase of intensity.
- ‘the hysteria reached a crescendo around the spring festival’
peak, pinnacle, height, high point, highest point, summit, top- 2.1A progressive increase in intensity.‘there were six months of gradual crescendo then three weeks of total mayhem’
- ‘a crescendo of misery’
peak, pinnacle, height, high point, highest point, summit, top
3Music
A gradual increase in loudness in a piece of music.- ‘each time the key changes, there is a gradual crescendo’
- 3.1A passage of music marked or performed with a crescendo.
Pronunciation
adverb
MusicWith a gradual increase in loudness.
‘in the upper three parts there are groups of longer notes played crescendo’- ‘Each goal is honoured with the crescendo beat of drums and the noise is increased by the cheers of the successful party.’
- ‘Reversing the crescendo pattern used by so many instrumental bands, the song begins with booming drums and layers of distorted bass, high-end guitars, and uplifting piano.’
Pronunciation
adjective
MusicGradually increasing in loudness.
- ‘a short crescendo kettledrum roll’
Pronunciation
intransitive verbintransitive verb crescendoes, intransitive verb crescendoing, intransitive verb crescendoed
[no object]Increase in loudness or intensity.
‘the reluctant cheers began to crescendo’- ‘More laughter from the audience, which crescendoed as Kelly began actually discussing the things, in terms of their visual history and morphology.’
- ‘It's also there in the way he ends notes in the verses, crescendoing and pitching up and then choking them off suddenly, cutting the sound short.’
- ‘Soon, the faint pitter-patter crescendoed into the staccato of heavy drops falling on Heinrich's poncho.’
- ‘The drums boomed, the bass often got lost in the mix under dueling guitars, and the dueling guitars crescendoed.’
- ‘A chorus of male voices rose above the din, crescendoing, singing ‘Jezebel’ in ringing tones that deafened the room with awe.’
- ‘The advisor started chuckling softly to himself, and it grew and crescendoed into the same maniacal laughter that was coming out of the priestess's mouth far away.’
- ‘Jonas's voice crescendoed steadily with every word.’
- ‘Murmuring broke out and crescendoed into pandemonium.’
- ‘The horse's gait changed to a gallop, and the muffled rhythm of the hoof beats crescendoed until they were uncannily loud and hollow.’
- ‘The song crescendoed, and they both closed their eyes.’
- ‘My voice crescendoed into a yell slowly throughout my speech, bringing up memories of events that I'd overcome.’
- ‘Her voice started low, hardly audible, but slowly crescendoed as the temperature of the room dropped.’
- ‘It crescendoed and tipped off at an intensely sharp note.’
- ‘His voice, at first, had been soft but soon crescendoed into a bellow.’
- ‘We waited a few seconds in silence, before we heard rhythmic footsteps crescendoing as a dim, short outline approached the door.’
- ‘When motorized sounds roared and heavy gunfire crescendoed, he ran, so I ran too.’
- ‘She heard voices crescendo until the words were finally understandable.’
- ‘This will be almost falsetto but will have enough heaviness to enable the singer to crescendo smoothly.’
- ‘As the music evolved, each harmonic would crescendo but no harmonic would crescendo any louder than another.’
- ‘The drumming of his fingers matched the rain in a crescendoing concerto.’
Pronunciation
Origin
Late 18th century Italian, present participle of crescere ‘to increase’, from Latin crescere ‘grow’.
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