forte

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See also: forté and fortë

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed 1640–50; earlier fort < Middle French; disyllabic pronunciation by association with Italian forte, from Latin fortis (“strong”). Doublet of fort and fortis.

Pronunciation

Noun

forte (plural fortes)

  1. A strength or talent.
    He writes respectably, but poetry is not his forte.
    • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. , volume II, London: Henry Colburn, , →OCLC, page 115:
      Between ourselves, the country is rather triste, and you have given me positively a sensation; yet my forte is not the Arcadian: however, I will do my petit possible to console you for the loss of le beau Lindor, who was my predecessor.
  2. The strong part of a sword blade, close to the hilt.
Synonyms
Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Italian forte (“strong”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

Forte notation.

forte (not comparable)

  1. (music) Loud. Used as a dynamic directive in sheet music in its abbreviated form, "f.", to indicate raising the volume of the music. (Abbreviated in musical notation with an f, the Unicode character 1D191.)
    This passage is forte, then there's a diminuendo to mezzo piano.
Translations

Adverb

forte (not comparable)

  1. (music) Loudly.
    The musicians played the passage forte.
Related terms
Translations

Noun

forte (plural fortes)

  1. A passage in music to be played loudly; a loud section of music.
    This forte marks the climax of the second movement.
Related terms
terms containing the word "forte" (could be from any etymology above, or etymologically unrelated)
See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 “forte”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present. (which notates force words like this noun /ɔr, oʊr/, vs north words like this adjective as just /ɔr/)
  2. ^ William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “forte”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volumes II (D–Hoon), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
  3. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
  4. ^ William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “forte”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volumes II (D–Hoon), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
  5. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Anagrams

Danish

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Old Danish forta, fortæ (“space around a horse”), see fortov (“pavement”).

Noun

forte c (singular definite forten, plural indefinite forter)

  1. (historical) open space in a village
  2. (historical) enclosed cattle path
Declension
Declension of forte
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative forte forten forter forterne
genitive fortes fortens forters forternes
Further reading

Etymology 2

From Italian forte, from Latin fortis (“strong”).

Adverb

forte

  1. (music) forte, loudly
    Antonym: piano

Esperanto

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈforte/
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: for‧te

Adverb

forte

  1. strongly

Related terms

See also

French

Pronunciation

Adjective

forte f sg

  1. feminine singular of fort

Anagrams

Galician

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese forte, from Latin fortis, fortem (“strong”), from Old Latin forctis, fortis, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high, hill”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

forte m or f (plural fortes)

  1. strong
Derived terms
Related terms

Etymology 2

From praza forte, "strong place".

Pronunciation

Noun

forte m (plural fortes)

  1. fortress

References

  • “forte” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
  • “forte” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
  • “forte” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
  • “forte” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.

Italian

Etymology

From Latin fortem, from Old Latin forctis, fortis, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high, hill”).

Pronunciation

Noun

forte m (plural forti)

  1. fort, fortress
    Synonyms: fortezza, fortilizio, fortino, bicocca, piazzaforte, roccaforte, ridotta
  2. a strength or talent
    La chimica non è il mio forte

Adjective

forte (plural forti, superlative fortissimo)

  1. strong
    Sono alto e forte. ― I am tall and strong.
  2. (linguistics) stressed
    vocali forti ― stressed vowel

Synonyms

Antonyms

Related terms

Further reading

  • forte in Dizionario di Italiano online - La Repubblica

Latin

Etymology 1

From the ablative of fors (“chance, luck”).

Noun

forte

  1. ablative singular of fors

Adverb

forte (not comparable)

  1. by chance, accidentally
    Synonym: temere
  2. once, once upon a time
  3. perhaps, perchance
  4. as luck would have it
  5. as it (just so) happens/happened
Synonyms
Related terms

Etymology 2

From fortis.

Adjective

forte

  1. nominative/vocative/accusative singular neuter of fortis

References

  • “forte”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “forte”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • forte in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • forte in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • (ambiguous) quite accidentally, fortuitously: temere et fortuito; forte (et) temere

Norman

Adjective

forte f

  1. feminine singular of fort

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

forte

  1. definite singular of fort
  2. plural of fort

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

Inherited from Latin fortem (“strong”), from Old Latin forctis, fortis, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high, hill”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

forte m or f (plural fortes)

  1. strong; powerful (capable of producing great physical force)
  2. (of wind, water, etc.) strong; fast moving etc.
  3. (of a disease or symptom) strong; severe

Related terms

Descendants

  • Fala: forti
  • Galician: forte
  • Portuguese: forte

Portuguese

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese forte, from Latin fortis (“strong”), from Old Latin forctis, fortis, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high, hill”).

Pronunciation

 

  • (Northeast Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈfɔh.tɪ/, /fɔhtʲ/, /fɔʈʲ/
  • Hyphenation: for‧te

Noun

forte m (plural fortes)

  1. strength (pronounced quality), strong suit
  2. fortress
    Synonym: fortaleza

Adjective

forte m or f (plural fortes, comparable, comparative mais forte, superlative o mais forte or fortíssimo, diminutive fortinho, augmentative fortão)

  1. capable of producing great force; strong; forceful
    O homem forte levantou o carro.
    The strong man lifted the car.
  2. capable of withstanding great force; strong; durable
  3. highly stimulating to the senses; intense; extreme; strong
    Senti um cheiro muito forte.
    I smelled a very strong odor.
  4. (euphemistic) fat
    Synonym: gordo

Derived terms

Related terms

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian forte or Latin fortis.

Adjective

forte m or f or n (indeclinable)

  1. strong, powerful

Declension

Declension of forte (invariable)
singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative/
accusative 		indefinite forte forte forte forte
definite — — — —
genitive/
dative 		indefinite forte forte forte forte
definite — — — —

Adverb

forte

  1. strongly

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian forte. Doublet of fuerte.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈfoɾte/
  • Rhymes: -oɾte
  • Syllabification: for‧te

Adjective

forte m or f (masculine and feminine plural fortes)

  1. (music) forte

Adverb

forte

  1. (music) forte

Noun

forte m (plural fortes)

  1. (music) forte

Further reading

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian forte.

Adverb

forte (not comparable)

  1. (music) forte (loudly)

Noun

forte n

  1. (music) forte (passage to be played loudly)

Declension

Declension of forte 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative forte fortet forten fortena
Genitive fortes fortets fortens fortenas

Further reading

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia