crescendo means gradually increasing in force or loudness. It carries an Arena rating of 2050, earned across 21 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, crescendo ranks #306 of 17,120 for Most Beautiful Words, #364 of 17,123 for Most Malleable Words, #483 of 17,116 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #846 of 17,114 for Most Satisfying to Say.
crescendo is pronounced /kɹɪˈʃɛn.dəʊ/.
Why “crescendo” is a great word
A gradual increase in force, loudness, or intensity, especially toward a climax. From the Italian crescendo ('increasing'), gerund of crescere ('to grow'), from Latin crescere ('to arise, grow'), first attested as a musical term in English circa 1776. Unlike 'climax,' which names the explosive peak itself, or 'decrescendo,' its direct, fading opposite, crescendo is the breathless journey toward the summit. It is the kettle’s whistle building from a sigh to a scream, the pressure drop and greenish light before a tornado, the crowd’s murmur swelling into a roar—the exquisite tension of a world gathering itself to break.
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian crescendo, gerund of crescere (“to grow, to increase”).
adv
- Gradually increasing in force or loudness.
noun
- An instruction to play gradually more loudly, denoted by a long, narrow angle with its apex on the left ( < ), by musicians called a hairpin.
- A gradual increase of anything, especially to a dramatic climax.e.g.“Their fighting rose in a fearsome crescendo.”
- The climax of a gradual increase.e.g.“Their arguing rose to a fearsome crescendo.”
verb
- To increase in intensity; to reach or head for a crescendo.e.g.“The band crescendoed and then suddenly went silent.”
Words closest in meaning
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