Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🔉 A gradual decrease 🔉 Gradually softer
diminuendo

diminuendo

8.2
Becoming quieter over time in music
  • adjective
  • /dɪˌmɪn.juˈɛn.doʊ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : diminuendo
  • The conductor signaled for a gradual diminuendo, lowering the energy of the piece.

Examples

  • As the music moved towards the end, there was a noticeable diminuendo in the strings section.

  • The orchestra played the passage with a delicate diminuendo that faded to silence.

  • The conductor asked the orchestra to play the piece with a smooth diminuendo at the end.

  • As the final note faded, the singer's voice softened in a gentle diminuendo.

  • During the performance, the music transitioned into a diminuendo, creating a calm and peaceful atmosphere.

Synonyms

fading away
vsdiminuendo
5 3.8

A slow loss of brightness, sound, or strength until almost gone

is a musical decrease that may stop before complete disappearance
attenuation
vsdiminuendo
  • Specialized
3 7.9

To make a sound or signal weaker

is the musical, gradual decrease specifically in loudness rather than general weakening
decrescendo
vsdiminuendo
  • Specialized
7.5

Gradually getting quieter in music or a part played that way

is the general musical instruction, not a label for a performed passage

Antonyms

crescendo
  • Specialized
20 6.1

A gradual increase in loudness or strength in music

How Loud

diminuendo
  • Specialized
8.2
morendo
  • Specialized
9.9

Surface Forms

diminuendo positive

Etymology

Diminuendo comes from Italian and from the Latin verb minuere, which means 'to lessen', and it is the same root as English diminish. That's why when music is described as diminuendo it means the sound is slowly becoming less loud.