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Glite Dictionary
🏘️ In rows or levels 🎼 Step-like changes
terraced

terraced

7.2
Having sudden changes in volume like steps in music
  • adjective
  • /ˈtɛr.əst/
  • Specialized
translation icon : en terrazas
  • Baroque composers often used terraced dynamics to create dramatic contrasts in their music.

Examples

  • The piece features terraced changes in volume rather than smooth crescendos.

  • Listeners noticed the terraced shifts between loud and soft passages throughout the concert.

  • The music had a terraced quality that made it more engaging.

  • Can you hear the terraced dynamics in this piece?

  • The piece features terraced changes in volume rather than smooth crescendos.

  • Listeners noticed the terraced shifts between loud and soft passages throughout the concert.

  • Baroque composers often used terraced dynamics to create dramatic contrasts in their music.

Synonyms

saltatory
vsterraced
  • Specialized
9.9

Happening in sudden jumps instead of slowly

is specific to abrupt step-like shifts in sound or texture

Antonyms

smooth
204 1.0

Moving or happening in an even, easy way without sudden problems

Compounds

terraced house
  • UK
1 2.5

A house joined to other houses in a row by shared walls

How Sudden

abrupt
37 4.6
terraced
  • Specialized
7.2
gradual
75 3.0

Surface Forms

terraced positive

Morphology

terraced = terrace (semi-transparent) = terrace + ed

The adjective is formed regularly from 'terrace' but the musical sense is a metaphorical, domain-specific extension (step-like changes in dynamics).

Etymology

Terraced in music comes from the same idea of a terrace and the Latin terra 'earth' as a flat step. A helpful way to remember it is to imagine loud and soft parts as separate steps instead of a smooth change, which is why terraced music has sudden, step-like changes in loudness.