crescendo

• cres.
• cresc.

Borrowed from Italian crescendo, gerund of crescere (“to grow, to increase”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kɹɪˈʃɛn.dəʊ/, /kɹəˈʃɛn.dəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kɹɪˈʃɛn.doʊ/, /kɹəˈʃɛn.doʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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• Hyphenation: cres‧cen‧do

crescendo (plural crescendos or crescendi or crescendoes)

1. (music) An instruction to play gradually more loudly, denoted by a long, narrow angle with its apex on the left ( < ), by musicians called a hairpin.
2. (figuratively) A gradual increase of anything, especially to a dramatic climax.

   Their fighting rose in a fearsome crescendo.

3. (figuratively, nonstandard) The climax of a gradual increase.

   Their arguing rose to a fearsome crescendo.

   • 2011 October 20, Michael da Silva, “Stoke 3 - 0 Macc Tel-Aviv”, in BBC Sport‎:

     With the Stoke supporters jeering Ziv's every subsequent touch, the pantomime atmosphere created by the home crowd reached a crescendo when Ziv was shown a straight red shortly after the break in extraordinary circumstances.

• The musical sense indicates that the figurative sense is an increase rather than the climax of the increase. The use of this word to mean the climax of an increase is nonstandard but commonplace.

• (antonym(s) of “music”): decrescendo, diminuendo
• (antonym(s) of “the climax of a gradual increase”): climax, conclusion

crescendo (third-person singular simple present crescendoes, present participle crescendoing, simple past and past participle crescendoed)

1. To increase in intensity; to reach or head for a crescendo.

   The band crescendoed and then suddenly went silent.

   • 2021 November 1, Haley Nahman, “I got a camera to spy on my cat – and it made me question everything about myself”, in The Guardian‎:

     And similarly, they are full of tricks: when the imagined stranger calls your name, the music crescendos romantically; when the video freezes on your laugh, it immediately desaturates the candid photo, making you look old-timey or famous or dead.

crescendo (not comparable)

1. (music) Gradually increasing in force or loudness.

• conceders

• IPA^(key):

crescendo n

1. (music) crescendo

• “crescendo”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “crescendo”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “crescendo”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

From Italian crescendo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkreʃendo/,
• Rhymes: -eʃendo

crescendo

1. crescendo (instruction to play gradually more loudly)
2. (rare) crescendo (gradual increase, especially to a dramatic climax)

• “crescendo”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

Borrowed from Italian crescendo.

• IPA^(key): /kʁe.ʃɛn.do/, (less common) /kʁɛ.ʃɛn.do/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

crescendo

1. (music) crescendo

crescendo m (plural crescendos)

1. (music) crescendo
2. (figurative) gradual increase, crescendo

   un crescendo de difficulté ― a crescendo of difficulty

• “crescendo”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Unadapted borrowing from Italian crescendo, from Latin crēscendum (“increasing, growing”), gerund of crēscō.

crescendo

1. (music) crescendo: An instruction to play gradually more loudly, denoted by a long, narrow angle with its apex on the left ( < ).

• “crescendo” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

From Latin crēscendum (“increasing, growing”), gerund of crēscō.

• IPA^(key): /kreʃˈʃɛn.do/
• Rhymes: -ɛndo
• Hyphenation: cre‧scèn‧do

crescendo

1. gerund of crescere

crescendo m (invariable)

1. (music) crescendo (instruction to play gradually more loudly)
2. (figurative) crescendo (gradual increase)

• → English: crescendo
• → Spanish: crescendo

• crescendo in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kreːsˈken.doː/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kreʃˈʃen.do/,

crēscendō

1. dative/ablative masculine/neuter singular of crēscendus

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

crescendo

Wikipedia ^pl

Unadapted borrowing from Italian crescendo.

• IPA^(key): /krɛˈʂɛn.dɔ/
• Rhymes: -ɛndɔ
• Syllabification: cre‧scen‧do

crescendo n (indeclinable)

1. (music) crescendo (instruction to play gradually more loudly, denoted by a long, narrow angle with its apex on the left ( < ), by musicians called a hairpin)

   Antonyms: decrescendo, diminuendo

2. (figurative) crescendo (gradual increase of anything, especially to a dramatic climax)

   Antonyms: decrescendo, diminuendo

or

Indeclinable.

crescendo (not comparable)

1. (music) crescendo (gradually increasing in force or loudness)

   Antonyms: decrescendo, diminuendo

2. (figurative) crescendo (gradually increasing in force or intensity)

   Antonyms: decrescendo, diminuendo

• crescendo I in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• crescendo II in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• crescendo in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• crescendo in PWN's encyclopedia

crescendo m (plural crescendos)

1. (music) crescendo (music to be play gradually more loudly)

crescendo

1. gerund of crescer; "growing"

Unadapted borrowing from Italian crescendo.

crescendo

1. crescendo

crescendo n (plural crescendouri)

1. crescendo

Unadapted borrowing from Italian crescendo.

• IPA^(key): /kɾeʃenˌdo} | ˈ{es pɾ/
• IPA^(key): /kɾeˈt͡ʃendo/
  • Rhymes: -endo

crescendo m (plural crescendos)

1. crescendo

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “crescendo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

crescendo n

1. (music) crescendo