Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A male voice in an upper register beyond its normal range.
- n. One who sings or talks in this register.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The highest or smallest register or quality in both male and female voices: so called because in its untrained state it is more or less unnatural and forced, and because at best it is usually intractable. The term is somewhat loosely applied to other registers or qualities; it is much more obvious in the male voice than in the female. Physiologically, it results from a partial vibration of the vocal cords.
- Having the quality and compass of the falsetto.
- Assumed; constrained; unnaturally high-pitched; false.
Wiktionary
- n. countable or uncountable The "false" (singing) voice in any human, usually airy and lacking a purity of vowels; created by utilizing the next highest vocal folds above those used for speech and normal range singing. It is commonly confused with the Head Voice register.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A false or artificial voice; that voice in a man which lies above his natural voice; the male counter tenor or alto voice. See Head voice, under voice.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. artificially high; above the normal voice range
- n. a male singing voice with artificially high tones in an upper register
Etymologies
- From Italian falso. (Wiktionary)
- Italian, diminutive of falso, false, from Latin falsus; see false. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“On February 9th, Thomas Scholl and Peter Hinnen each yodel 22 tones (including 15 in falsetto) in one second.”
“Not to mention the annoying vagrant played by John C. Reilly, who speaks in falsetto throughout the film.”
The Huffington Post: Ed Koch: The Extra Man (A Mayor Koch Review)
“He says what he means and means what he says ... and he can say it in falsetto with a liberal sprinkling of "babe" and "sweetie" for all I care.”
“Me catch 'm pig sun he go down," spoke up one whose thin falsetto voice Joan recognized as belonging to Cosse, one of Gogoomy's tribesmen.”
“8 - Singing the Purple Rose of Texas in falsetto at open mike night in the prison canteen.”
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“Now, he's an amazing performer, don't get me wrong, but the falsetto is a bit much at times, especially in a song choice like "Play That Funky Music, White Boy".”
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“You sing in this high falsetto, which is a difficult vocal range to sustain.”
“He pushed the androgyny by starting the first song in falsetto.”
“It was owing to the use by light tenors of the so-called falsetto voice, now no longer in favor with the public, that such of the”
“Within this compass, the tenor makes use of two voices; the chest or natural voice -- which ranges over the whole of the lower octave and the lower half of the higher octave -- and the head-voice or falsetto, which is commonly used throughout the whole of the remainder of the upper octave, the higher notes of which can be reached only in the falsetto.”
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 333, July 1843
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘falsetto’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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wallace
Remington, Windsor, prorector, wen, aver, mottle, seltzer, tepee, lapidary, effete, sotto, presbyopia and 355 more...
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Public List: Lift Every Voice
Vocal techniques.
word shaping, backphrasing, vibrato, scat, coloratura, rubato, falsetto, death growl, overtone singing, harmonic singing, yodeling, ululation and 17 more...
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pretentious words i have used or hope...
a list of pretentious words i have used or hope to use when discussing operas because they make me feel like i am considerably more knowledgeable about opera than i actually am.
pulchritudinous, divina, libretto, diegetic, syncretism, mezzo-soprano, contralto, coloratura, tenor, baritone, bass-baritone, bass and 42 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, F
felony, frolic, fend, fuselage, farthingale, freewheeling, frigorific, flummery, fancypants, felsitic, flagstone, flageolet and 295 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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Musical words
nocturne, flat, sharp, waltz, etude, opera, soprano, alto, tenor, bass, cello, flute and 131 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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wordsmithing part deux
because wordsmith is not a verb.
enmity, incarnate, chignon, nape, solitude, nocturne, decorum, warren, svelte, interstice, serene, charlotte and 488 more...
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random
words I read but don't know
nascent, proxy, desultory, charlatan, churlish, emaciated, gaudy, shill, lurid, frisson, marauding, plunder and 610 more...
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Beautiful Music
a cappella, accelerando, accompagnato, adagio, ad libitum, agitato, aleatory, alla breve, allegro, allemande, alto, andante and 548 more...
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simple & useful13
rookeries, bottommost, nettlesome, extravaganza, galoot, gun moll, kludge, pollyannaish, bushwhacking, revivable, flourishing, resurgence and 97 more...
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MacBean's Words
verisimilitude, antediluvian, schadenfreude, eviscerate, exsanguinate, onomatopoeia, aesthetic, apocryphal, aubergine, byronic, brouhaha, bordello and 523 more...
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My Personnal Words List on WordNik
Eloquence, dismay, abolish, Procrastination, hallowed, Audacity, provision, flue gas, perceive, aprodith, cult, mischief and 136 more...
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Russo Vocab Test
ostracize, innumerable, chiffonier, qualm, compulsory, sadism, masochism, falsetto, liberate, rile, pacifist, unscrupulous and 56 more...
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A Night at the Opera
Opera terminology.
sitzprobe, claque, maestro, impresario, divo, diva, spinto, bel canto, falsetto, parlando, pants role, trouser role and 50 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for falsetto.
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