Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb & adjective In a moderately quick tempo, usually considered to be slightly slower than allegro but faster than andante. Used chiefly as a direction.
  • noun An allegretto passage or movement.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In music, quicker in time than andante, but not so quick as allegro.
  • noun A movement in such time.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Mus.) Quicker than andante, but not so quick as allegro.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb music A direction in musical notation indicating that the musical piece should be played rather fast and lively.
  • noun music A movement in this time.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (of tempo) faster than allegro
  • adverb in a moderately quick tempo
  • noun a quicker tempo than andante but not as fast as allegro
  • noun a musical composition or musical passage to be performed at a somewhat quicker tempo than andante but not as fast as allegro

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Italian, diminutive of allegro, allegro; see allegro.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowed from Italian allegretto, diminutive form of allegro.

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