portamento

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“
This synth features a "wand" to vary the pitch, allowing for portamento-style bends and dips.

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Definitions (3)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A smooth uninterrupted glide in passing from one tone to another, especially with the voice or a bowed stringed instrument.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

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Examples

  • Her diminuendo is the non plus ultra that can be heard; her portamento wonderfully fine; her chromatic scales, especially toward the upper part of her voice, unrivalled. —  Frederic Chopin as a Man and Musician
  • This synth features a "wand" to vary the pitch, allowing for portamento-style bends and dips. —  MAKE Magazine
  • I only wish that you could hear her sing my new aria which I lately mentioned to you, — I say, hear her sing it, because it seems made expressly for her; a man like you who really understands what portamento in singing means, would certainly feel the most intense pleasure in hearing her. —  The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • The exquisite delicacy of his touch, his indescribable mechanical dexterity, his finished shading and portamento, which reflect the deepest feeling; the lucidity of his interpretation, and his compositions, which bear the stamp of great genius — variazioni di bravura, rondo, free fantasia — reveal a virtuoso most liberally endowed by nature, who, without previous blasts of trumpets, appears on the horizon like one of the most brilliant meteors. —  Frederic Chopin as a Man and Musician
  • - —  Sharpe's Waterloo
 

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Portamento has been looked up 40 times, favorited 0 times, listed 9 times, and commented on once.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Italian, from portare, to carry, from Latin portāre; see per-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Italian (later Portuguese portamento), carriage, from Middle Latin portamentum, carrying, carriage, action, from Latin portare, carry: see port.
 

Pronunciations
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/poʊrtɑˈmɛntoʊ/
by American Heritage

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