Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. In a very loud manner. Used chiefly as a direction.
- n. A note, chord, or passage played fortissimo.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- In music, very loud: noting a passage that is intended to be so rendered. Abbreviated ff.
Wiktionary
- adj. comparative form of forte: more forte
- adv. comparative form of forte: more forte
- adv. music The musical term indicating that the piece is played very loud.
- n. music The dynamic sign indicating that the piece should be played fortissimo. Abbreviation: ff.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. (Mus.) Very loud; with the utmost strength or loudness.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. chiefly a direction or description in music
- adv. a direction in music; to be played very loudly
- n. (music) loud
Etymologies
- Borrowing from Italian fortissimo. (Wiktionary)
- Italian, superlative of forte, strong; see forte2. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Again and again, we experience a Baroque church as a unique kind of fortissimo of joy, an Alleluia in visual form.”
“So far, this scribe detects two "fortissimo" candidates -- people palpably impatient to get in office and shake things up.”
“Beethoven's many accents were given little attention, and rarely did the group produce a real, full-throated fortissimo.”
The Washington Post: Leipzig Quartet doesn't play it rough enough
“Near silence or crashing fortissimo, simple melody or, as in the finale of the Bruckner, an enormous double fugue, he hardly alters his demeanour.”
The Guardian: Lucerne Festival Orchestra; Xerxes; La bohème – review
“It takes a lot of calculating to sing a role as challenging as Butterfly, but in Naglestad's case the calculation was sometimes visible enough to dull the dramatic edge: a pause before a high note, a slightly too-deliberate leap into fortissimo in "Un bel di.”
The Washington Post: Anne Midgette reviews Washington National Opera's 'Madama Butterfly'
“He turned to the orchestra, told them the cue, and picked up from a vigorous fortissimo section.”
“Excitement, splendid orchestral playing and rousing fortissimo sections are three hallmarks of Gustavo Dudamel's performances of the three Tchaikovsky symphonic overtures based on Shakespeare.”
The Washington Post: CD review: Gustavo Dudamel conducts Tchaikovsky's Shakespeare overtures
“Even more so was the Vienna Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez doing Berg's "Lulu-Suite" and Mahler's "Das Klagende Lied"; though their fortissimo passages were even surpassed in volume by the three Tchaikovsky/Shakespeare pieces performed by the youthful Simón Bolívar Orchestra of Venezuela, conducted by their guru, Gustavo Dudamel.”
The Wall Street Journal: Salzburg's Summer of Shadows and Shakespeare
“Then the full orchestra lets rip for the next phrases, marked fortissimo, with cymbals crashing.”
The Wall Street Journal: The Splendid Start to a Farewell to Opera
“With a mighty descending gesture of massed violins and woodwinds the storm unleashes its fury over rolling timpani, pounding bass drum and fortissimo brass chords.”
The Wall Street Journal: The Splendid Start to a Farewell to Opera
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘fortissimo’.
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Mirrored Vowels
Rules:
• The word must have an even number of vowels.
• There must be four or more vowels; thus, at minimum, an A-A-A-A or A-B-B-A pattern.
• The vowels must appear in a mir...feminine, solicitor, caruncular, repackager, semiprimes, fetishises, decomposer, demonlover, recomposer, sepultures, lipotropic, colesterol and 385 more...
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EN - rare adverbs
raptly, solicitously, articulately, full-length, industriously, supernaturally, asymmetrically, wiggly, spotlessly, ineffectually, dolefully, pictorially and 69 more...
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curligirli0's Words
crapulous, swish, shiatsu, zen, xenoglossy, nincompoop, loquacious, pianissimo, onomatopoeia, imperturbable, silky, hosanas and 379 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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Spiftacular's Words
spiffy, orchestra, skulduggery, antipathy, leap, sonata, opus, dug, deed, fabulous, nifty, glisten and 221 more...
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clef
caprice, variation, violin, harpsichord, adagio, allegro, scherzo, opera, tenor, soprano, alto, mezzo and 62 more...
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The Nebulous Interests of Victoria Grace
Words I love to use, or long to use, or find amusing and interesting in some way. Yes, its a nebulous description but that's just that.
extemporanea, nebulous, alias, philatelic, paradoxical, discotheque, tributary, lackadaisical, egypt, sesquipedalian, moratorium, villanelle and 15 more...
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Discordial
Annoying, loud, or awful sounds.
portamento, scroop, clangor, plangent, stentorian, hubbub, cacophony, burble, guggle, donder, sough, racket and 82 more...
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Musical Theory and Notation
Words you might find in written music
forte, piano, fortissimo, pianissimo, moderato, pizzicato, staccato, glissando, ritardando, legato, accelerando, allegro and 40 more...
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11th Grade Words for Singing Voices a...
fortissimo, pianissimo, Crescendo, soprano, basso, tenor, falsetto
Tweets
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