Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb & adjective With gradually diminishing force or loudness. Used chiefly as a direction.
- noun A gradual decrease in force or loudness.
- noun A decrescendo passage.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In music, a gradual diminution of force; a passing from loud to soft: opposed to crescendo, and the same as
diminuendo : often indicated by decres., dec., or the sign ⟩.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- (Mus.) With decreasing volume of sound; -- a direction to performers, either written upon the staff (abbreviated
Dec ., orDecresc .), or indicated by the sign.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun music An instruction to play
gradually moresoftly . - verb music To gradually become quieter
- adjective becoming
quieter gradually.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective gradually decreasing in volume
- noun (music) a gradual decrease in loudness
- verb grow quieter
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The scene, she explains is a decrescendo, the denouement of everything that has happened before it; the build up and heyday of Rome; these women becoming trophy brides, the beautiful houses, clothes and hairdos - and it all falls apart.
Spread ArtCulture: Interview: Eve Sussman - on the making of her film, Rape of the Sabine Women Spread ArtCulture 2010
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The scene, she explains is a decrescendo, the denouement of everything that has happened before it; the build up and heyday of Rome; these women becoming trophy brides, the beautiful houses, clothes and hairdos - and it all falls apart.
Spread ArtCulture: Interview: Eve Sussman - on the making of her film, Rape of the Sabine Women Spread ArtCulture 2010
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Freedom feeds fillip and flames of frenzy in a few freak cases, but if it reaches a more feverish frequency, somebody ought to remind those folks to tone down their rhetorical crescendo to a decrescendo level.
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My husband says our name for each other over and over, in a slow decrescendo.
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Grandpa Favre’ s play as the season wears is known to decrescendo, and this has already been one of the southern slinger’ s worst outings in his illustrious career.
The interim coach vs. the replacements Evan Bliss 2010
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In The Apple in the Dark, written in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just before she left her marriage, a black humor, conveyed through decrescendo and juxtaposition, is the offsetting fruit:
The Brazilian Sphinx Moore, Lorrie 2009
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The cry of birds grew faint, a rapid decrescendo to something less than a whisper.
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The cry of birds grew faint, a rapid decrescendo to something less than a whisper.
Record of a Living Being Dominic Preziosi 2009
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Perhaps most easily observed, is Obama's way of ending statements with a decrescendo – settling his statement into a soft landing in the deeper part of his baritone range.
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In Mozart's dark-hued Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, Mr. Tao showed appealing freshness in his use of telling, expressive details that distinguish one interpretation from the next -- a slight decrescendo here, a change of tonal color there, a heartfelt response to the piece.
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