ricercata means A very elaborate form of fugue. It carries an Arena rating of 1620, earned across 32 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, ricercata ranks #1,697 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #3,829 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #3,871 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #4,130 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words.
Why “ricercata” is a great word
A highly intricate and contrapuntal musical composition, often serving as a prelude or scholarly fugue. From Italian ricercata, feminine past participle of ricercare ('to search again, to seek out'), from ri- ('again') + cercare ('to search'). First attested in English c1715. Unlike a strict 'fugue,' which follows a prescribed architecture of subject and answer, or a mere 'prelude,' which may simply set a mood, the ricercata is an act of deliberate, intellectual pursuit. It is the sound of a single theme being turned over in the mind's hand, its facets examined in the clear light of counterpoint; a labyrinthine path of logic traced note by note through a forest of possibility; the patient, somatic warmth of a musical idea being slowly unpacked from its own latent consequences. It is music not as statement, but as process—the audible shape of thought itself.
Etymology
From Italian ricercata. Doublet of recherche.
noun
- A very elaborate form of fugue.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- fugue 64% match — A contrapuntal piece of music wherein a particular melody is played in a number of voices, each voice introduced in turn by playing the melody. vs ricercata →
- recherché 63% match — Sought out and chosen with care; choice; exquisite. vs ricercata →
- contrapunctus 56% match — A fugue. vs ricercata →
- rondo 53% match — A musical composition, commonly of a lively, cheerful character, in which the first strain recurs after each of the other strains. vs ricercata →
- recitative 53% match — dialogue, in an opera etc, that, rather than being sung as an aria, is reproduced with the rhythms of normal speech, often with simple musical accompaniment or harpsichord continuo, serving to expound the plot. vs ricercata →
- ribattuta 53% match — A musical ornament consisting of a trill on a long-short dotted rhythm accelerating to end on either a tremolo or a regular trill. vs ricercata →
- recitativo 52% match — A recitative. vs ricercata →
- fugally 52% match — In a fugal manner. vs ricercata →