Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A smooth uninterrupted glide in passing from one tone to another, especially with the voice or a bowed stringed instrument.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In music for the voice or an instrument of the viol family, a gradual change or gliding from one pitch or tone to another without break or perceptible step. It is similar to a legato in the first particular, but different from it in the second. As an effect, it is valuable when judiciously introduced, but readily passes into a vulgar mannerism. The term is sometimes loosely applied to legato effects on keyed instruments.
Wiktionary
- n. music A smooth, gliding transition from one note to another; used especially with stringed instruments, and sometimes on brass.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Mus.) In singing, or in the use of the bow, a gradual carrying or lifting of the voice or sound very smoothly from one note to another; a gliding from tone to tone.
Etymologies
- From Italian portamento, from portare ("bear, carry"). (Wiktionary)
- Italian, from portare, to carry, from Latin portāre. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Glide The effect of this slider depends on the setting of the Pitcher slider: When Pitcher is centered, Glide determines the time it takes for the pitch to slide from one note to another (called portamento).”
“Vibrato is controlled and portamento slides are delicately used.”
“A nonmusical example of portamento would be "up-speak," a verbal tic common in some people under thirty.”
“With the speed set to zero, unnaturally rapid corrections eliminate portamento, the musical term for the slide between two pitches.”
“Gulping and distoring vowels and using entirely too much portamento.”
“His recordings of concert works like Brahms's Sixth Hungarian Dance and Mendelssohn's "Ruy Blas" overture document the expressive late-19th-century performance style, with its flexible tempos (rubato) and emotional string portamento (sliding between important notes).”
“The seven types of aria are: Aria Cantabile; Aria di portamento; Aria di mezzo carattere; Aria parlante; Aria di bravura; Aria di agilita;”
“Put the right portamento into the first movement's violin part and you also have a case for the finest fresh oysters.”
“The first section of "Eri tu" is rendered in a splendidly firm, strong-lined legato, the words crystal-clear; it comes to an end with a decrescendo and portamento down from the top F on "guisa," a most expressive turn and acciaccatura on "primo," and a fermata at the end of the phrase.”
“And nobody tried to tell them that they weren't allowed to play Bach on the piano, or with vibrato & portamento on the violin.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘portamento’.
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smoooth
satined, sleek, glossy, legato, uncrannied, suave, smoothen, polish, satiny, flowing, levigate, politic and 78 more...
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Slip Slidin' Away
Slip Slidin' Away, slide, slide guitar, slidden, slid, slip-slided, backslidden, slider, tornado slide, slide rule, slipstick, sliding scale and 29 more...
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difficult words
ordure, tatterwallop, callipygian, odious, colophon, cynosure, hardener, emollience, valetudinarian, demonym, volage, polysemantic and 256 more...
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Potpourri
eponymous, aa, pulchritude, gizmo, macabre, sui generis, solecism, solipsism, eldritch, samizdat, queue, obsequious and 469 more...
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slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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bertilak's Words
antidisestablishm..., feldercarb, wainscoting, eleemosynary, oxymoron, fuliginous, libration, lammergeier, saxifrage, ichor, lambent, smaragdine and 414 more...
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The Collection
A somewhat discriminatory list of words and phrases collected for their euphonic or arcane appeal, interesting etymology, or concise definition of an otherwise unnamed phenomenon or concept.
ziggurat, neophilia, sucker punch, soporific, epoch, tundra, fiat, idiotproof, miscellany, metaphysics, cryptozoology, dysphoria and 850 more...
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for words
based upon per- indo-european root
turnverein, veer, frump, far, per, paramount, paramour, parget, parterre, parvenu, perissodactyl, palanquin and 133 more...
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vocab
numinous, gloze, diffident, soporific, lissome, rebarbative, trope, deliquesce, abjure, obdurate, pugilistic, puerile and 265 more...
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joshleejosh's Words
inchoate, garner, oft, hydrocephalitic, twee, dorktacular, tic, discourse, coded, avuncular, maleficent, saguaro and 45 more...
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sound / modulation / tonality
arpeggiator, interpolation, lossless, tonality, polysonic, monophonic, oscillator, modulation, parametric, compressor, sequencer, graintable 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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Speak Low, Darling, Speak Low
Words about voices
orotund, mellifluous, euphonious, dulcet, lilting, sonorous, vibrato, tremolo, falsetto, alto, soprano, baritone and 9 more...
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fictional place names
Tweets
Looking for tweets for portamento.
slumry A very very good word, not to be confused with portmanteau. Jun 16, 2007