mordent

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
The following are the embellishments most commonly found: Trill (or shake), mordent, inverted mordent (or prall trill), turn (gruppetto), inverted turn, appoggiatura and acciaccatura Usage varies greatly in the interpretation of the signs representing these embellishments and it is impossible to give examples of all the different forms.

View all »
Definitions (2)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A melodic ornament in which a principal tone is rapidly alternated with the tone a half or full step below.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (27)

  • In a deliciously mordent little arioso, the sheriff meditates on death: —  DownWithTyranny!
  • Boheme and Sharpless in Butterfly; and the lesser-known but solid Andrea Mongelli as Jack Rance (unfortunately with the mordent musing on death snipped out). —  DownWithTyranny!
  • The following are the embellishments most commonly found: Trill (or shake), mordent, inverted mordent (or prall trill), turn (gruppetto), inverted turn, appoggiatura and acciaccatura Usage varies greatly in the interpretation of the signs representing these embellishments and it is impossible to give examples of all the different forms. —  Music Notation and Terminology
  • 43 In the case of both mordent and double-mordent the tones are sounded as quickly as possible, the time taken by the embellishment being subtracted from the value of the principal note as printed Illustration: Fig. —  Music Notation and Terminology
  • The inverted mordent [inverted mordent symbol] (note the absence of the vertical line) is like the mordent except that the tone below is replaced by the tone above in each case. —  Music Notation and Terminology
More examples »
 

Tags

mordent hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 40 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. German, from Italian mordente, from mordere, to bite, from Vulgar Latin *mordere, from Latin mordēre; see mer- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Italian mordente, in music, a beat, a turn, a passing shake, from mordente, biting, pungent: see mordant.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈmɔrdɛnt/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

We are still working on calculating this word's frequency.

Recently looked up

exemplified · manageable · articulate · prosecutor · sole

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich