diminuendo

D2I1M3I1N1U1E1N1D2O1
UK/dɪˌmɪnjuːˈɛndəʊ/

noun

A dynamic mark directing that a passage is to be played gradually more softly

Opposite
Scrabble 14

Meanings

noundiminuendo (plural diminuendos)

plural diminuendos

  1. entertainmentA dynamic mark directing that a passage is to be played gradually more softly
  2. entertainmentA passage having this mark
  3. figurativelyThe gradual dying away of something.

    Harlow gazed, like Henry, out the wide corner window, enjoying the diminuendos of the light.

    1998, Edward Abbey, The Fool's Progress: An Honest Novel, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    Thus, in "Flavia and Her Artists" (1905), for example, a fiction of consonance in diminuendo, the French subtext states a set of harmonies (the young American returned from France) and cacophonies (the supercilious French art critic, Roux) shedding light on the main text with its own consonances of intergenerationsl friendship, marital loyalty, artistic pleasure, and joyful lesbianism.

    1988, Robert James Nelson, Willa Cather and France: In Search of the Lost Language, →ISBN, page 79

    Jillian haad the kind of charm that wore off. Or after enough romantic diminuendos, that's what she theorized.

    2018, Lionel Shriver, The Standing Chandelier
adverbdiminuendo (comparative more diminuendo, superlative most diminuendo)

comparative more diminuendo · superlative most diminuendo

  1. entertainmentplayed in this style
adjectivediminuendo (comparative more diminuendo, superlative most diminuendo)

comparative more diminuendo · superlative most diminuendo

  1. entertainmentdescribing a passage having this mark

    Synonyms: decrescendo

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivedescribing a passage having this mark

Opposite

More synonyms by meaning

adjective(music) gradually decreasing in volume

noun(music) a gradual decrease in loudness

Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Italiandiminuendo
  2. Italiandiminuendo
  3. Englishdiminuendo

Borrowed from Italian diminuendo.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 漸弱 /渐弱
  • 漸弱 /渐弱 (jianruo)music: dynamic mark
Dutch diminuendo
  • diminuendomusic: dynamic mark
Finnish diminuendo, diminuendo
  • diminuendomusic: dynamic mark
  • diminuendomusic: passage
  • hiipuminengradual dying away of something
German Diminuendo
  • Diminuendomusic: dynamic mark
Japanese ディミヌエンド
  • ディミヌエンド (diminuendo)music: dynamic mark
Korean 데크레셴도, 디미누엔도
  • 데크레셴도 (dekeuresyendo)music: dynamic mark
  • 디미누엔도 (diminuendo)music: dynamic mark
Cite this entry
APA

diminuendo. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diminuendo

MLA

“diminuendo.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diminuendo. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “diminuendo,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diminuendo.

Source: diminuendo on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.