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  1. forte love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Something in which a person excels.
  2. n. The strong part of a sword blade, between the middle and the hilt.
  3. adv. In a loud, forceful manner. Used chiefly as a direction.
  4. n. A note, passage, or chord played forte.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. The strong part of a sword-blade or rapier, as opposed to the foible. Also spelled fort.
  2. n. That in which one excels; a peculiar talent or faculty; a strong point or side; chief excellence.
  3. In music, loud; with force: opposed to piano: used also as if an adverb. Abbreviated feminine
  4. n. In music, a passage that is loud and forcible or is intended to be so.
  5. n. In harmonium-making, a slide or cover in the chest containing one or more sets of reeds, so arranged as to be opened by a stop-knob or a knee-lever and thus to produce a forte effect. Frequently separate fortes are introduced for the treble and the bass ends of the keyboard.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A strength or talent.
  2. n. The strong part of a sword blade, close to the hilt.
  3. n. A passage in music to be played loudly; a loud section of music.
  4. adv. music loudly

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. The strong point; that in which one excels.
  2. n. The stronger part of the blade of a sword; the part of half nearest the hilt; -- opposed to foible.
  3. adv. (Mus.) Loudly; strongly; powerfully.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. used chiefly as a direction or description in music
  2. n. the stronger part of a sword blade between the hilt and the foible
  3. adv. used as a direction in music; to be played relatively loudly
  4. n. (music) loud
  5. n. an asset of special worth or utility

Etymologies

  1. From Italian forte ("strong"). (Wiktionary)
  2. French fort, from Old French, strong, from Latin fortis; see fort.Italian, strong, forte, from Latin fortis; see bhergh-2 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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synonyms (3)

Words with the same meaning

  1. loudly
  1. strongly
  1. powerfully

equivalents (2)

Other words for ‘forte’

  1. fortemente
  1. fortissimo

hypernyms (5)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. part
  1. portion
  1. volume
  1. intensity
  1. loudness

same context (9)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. Grande
  1. più
  1. si
  1. idem
  1. peu
  1. uideatur
  1. hercle
  1. assez
  1. quale

rhymes (45)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. Court
  2. Dort
  3. Mort
  4. Porte
  5. Stuart
  6. abort
  7. assort
  8. athwart
  9. boart
  1. bort
  2. cavort
  3. comport
  4. consort
  5. contort
  6. cort
  7. court
  8. deport
  9. distort
  1. escort
  2. exhort
  3. extort
  4. foret
  5. fort
  6. import
  7. misreport
  8. mort
  9. ort
  1. port
  2. purport
  3. quart
  4. report
  5. resort
  6. short
  7. snort
  8. sort
  9. sport
  1. support
  2. swart
  3. teleport
  4. thwart
  5. tort
  6. torte
  7. transport
  8. underreport
  9. wart

reverse dictionary (22)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. Pankie
  2. fp
  3. thing
  4. specialty
  1. fort
  2. eau-fortist
  3. hitchpin-block
  4. meno
  1. mf
  2. peine
  3. colichemarde
  4. foible
  1. forte
  2. meat
  3. f
  4. métier
  1. capacity
  2. piano
  3. skill
  4. f 5
  1. p
  2. una corda

tags (1)

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  1. SATWOTD

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Lists

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Comments

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  • ruzuzu I think I side with The Orthoepist (see the Pronunciations page for this word). I learned the one-syllable version from a former professor of English, but most of my other friends try to correct me when I use it that way.

    For a usage example, see bunbury. Apr 3, 2011

  • PaulStatt The first definition of "forte," something at which a person excels, is pronounced "fort" not "fortay." There should be some way to indicate that. May 20, 2009

  • ezzackly As a French major, I have to side with the one-syllable. May 9, 2009

  • rolig Sionnach, did you grow up saying (and hearing people say) one-syllable forte? I wonder if the one- vs. two-syllable divide is based on class distinctions or perhaps on the transatlantic rift, or both? Mar 30, 2009

  • sionnach See the giving tree initial rant. Mar 30, 2009

  • rolig Well argued, Q.! I am an overly educated guy who is thought to be quite articulate and knowledgeable about languages, and I have always said this word with two syllables, with the stress on the first. But a couple of months ago someone whose opinion on such matters I respect said that it should be pronounced as one syllable when it meant "area of particular strength". But I don't believe that I have ever heard anyone say the word that way in the past thirty years. And I am sure that I and my educated friends have all said it disyllabically. Thanks for the confirmation.

    But this makes me wonder: is this campaign to get people to say forte monosyllabically a recent fad? Is this a new bugbear? Mar 30, 2009

  • qroqqa Disyllabic pronunciation in all meanings: to pronounce common words differently from your neighbours is pedantry and ignorance. The English word is a blend of French and Italian, getting its spelling and pronunciation from Italian but its (primary) meaning from French.

    The French for a strong point, in particular the strong point of a sword (as opposed to 'foible', the weak point) is fort [fɔR], masculine.

    As with numerous English words (locale, morale etc.), once it was borrowed into English it subsequently acquired an extra -e in the belief that this made it look more French.

    The assimilation in pronunciation to the Italian-derived musical term forte is surely complete. The OED gives the pronunciations as (fɔːti, fɔːteɪ, formerly fɔːt), and I doubt anyone has said it as a monosyllable for many decades except those who have read someone else claiming that it was one. (I used to be one of those myself, in my ignorance, before I understood how language actually works.)

    I have just edited out of some text the spelling forté, a natural next progression in confusing the two source languages. Mar 30, 2009

  • milosrdenstvi When used in music it is from the Italian and partakes of two syllables.

    When used as a synonym for something one is good at it derives from the French through the sport of fencing, and only has one.

    This is really not that difficult. This however continues to be one of the stock stupidities that people commonly refuse to correct because "everyone else does it that way". Well, everyone else who's uneducated, at least. Mar 17, 2009

  • seanahan Found this interesting video on this word http://www.hotforwords.com/2008/10/09/forte-pronunciation/. Also uses nounized. Oct 29, 2008

  • chained_bear In fencing, the strong part of the blade, nearest the guard. Feb 6, 2007

  • lorilori My husband & I have an ongoing argument about this one...I prefer "fawr-tey," and he prefers "fohrt." Good times at our house :) Jan 5, 2007

  • seanahan Not that difficult to pronounce! Please, just try a little harder. Jan 5, 2007

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‘forte’ has been looked up 4318 times, loved by 3 people, added to 55 lists, commented on 12 times, and has a Scrabble score of 8.