ostinato means A piece of melody, a chord progression, or a bass figure that is repeated over and over as a musical accompaniment. It carries an Arena rating of 1664, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, ostinato ranks #2,256 of 13,220 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,516 of 13,220 for Most Elegant Words, #2,557 of 13,220 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,757 of 13,220 for Most Beautiful Words.
ostinato is pronounced /ɒstɪˈnɑtoʊ/.
Why “ostinato” is a great word
A persistently repeated musical motif, phrase, or figure that forms a composition's unwavering foundation. From Italian *ostinato* ('stubborn, obstinate'), from Latin *obstinatus*, past participle of *obstinare* ('to persist, be resolved'). Unlike a 'riff'—a looser, often improvisational loop in popular music—or a 'leitmotif'—a thematic idea that evolves with a narrative—an ostinato is a formal, obstinate recurrence. It is the heartbeat of a passacaglia, the hypnotic churn of a minimalist groove, the unyielding ground bass over which all other melodies must unfurl and decay. It is the sound of resolve against the erosion of time.
Etymology
From Italian ostinato (“stubborn”). Doublet of obstinate.
noun
- A piece of melody, a chord progression, or a bass figure that is repeated over and over as a musical accompaniment.“The piece moves in alluring spans of swirling figures, jagged lines and pointillistic outbursts, often prodded forward by ostinatos in the perky piano.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- leitmotif 84% match — A melodic theme associated with a particular character, place, thing or idea in an opera. vs ostinato →
- ritornello 83% match — A recurring tutti passage in Baroque music for orchestra or chorus. vs ostinato →
- rondo 83% match — A musical composition, commonly of a lively, cheerful character, in which the first strain recurs after each of the other strains. vs ostinato →
- obbligato 83% match — An obbligato section; a prominent countermelody, often written to be played or sung above the principal theme (in a higher pitch range). vs ostinato →
- reharmonization 82% match — The process of reharmonizing a musical work; a musical work made by reharmonizing another work. vs ostinato →
- cabaletta 81% match — A short, rhythmically repetitive aria. vs ostinato →
- chaconne 81% match — A slow, stately Baroque dance. vs ostinato →
- tremolo 81% match — A rapid repetition of the same note, or an alternation between two or more notes. It can also be intended to mean a rapid and repetitive variation in pitch for the duration of a note. It is notated by a strong diagonal bar across the note stem, or a detached bar for a set of notes (or stemless notes). vs ostinato →