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staccato - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Borrowed from Italian staccato (“detached, disconnected”), past participle of staccare (“to detach, separate”), aphetic variant of distaccare (“to separate, detach”), from Middle French destacher (“to detach”), from Old French destachier (“to detach”), from des- +‎ atachier (“to attach”), alteration of estachier (“to fasten with or to a stake, lay claim to”), from estache (“a stake”), from Low Frankish *stakkā (“stake”), from Proto-Germanic *stakkaz, *stakô (“stick, stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“stick, stake”). Akin to Old High German stecko (“post”) (German Stecken (“stick”)), Old Saxon stekko (“stake”), Old Norse stakkr (“hay stack, heap”), Old English staca (“stake”). More at stake.

staccato (plural staccatos or staccati)

  1. (music) An articulation marking directing that a note or passage of notes are to be played in an abruptly disconnected manner, with each note sounding for a very short duration, and a short break lasting until the sounding of the next note; as opposed to legato. Staccato is indicated by a dot directly above or below the notehead.
  2. (music) A passage having this mark.
  3. (figurative) Any sound resembling a musical staccato.

    According to the syllable-timed hypothesis, Spanish syllables as staccato.

    • 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 160:

      The tumultuous noise resolved itself now into the disorderly mingling of many voices, the gride of many wheels, the creaking of waggons, and the staccato of hoofs.

staccato (comparative more staccato, superlative most staccato)

  1. (music) played in this style
    Now, play the same passage very staccato.

staccato (comparative more staccato, superlative most staccato)

  1. (music) Describing a passage having this mark.
  2. Made up of abruptly disconnected parts or sounds.

    • 1891, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray:

      The same nervous staccato laugh broke from her thin lips, and her fingers began to play with a long tortoise-shell paper-knife.

    • 1953 December, Henry Maxwell, “The Folkestone Harbour Branch: Some Evocations”, in Railway Magazine, page 809:

      A kind of tense peace, like the centre of a cyclone, descended. Not for long, of course, for already stealing upon one's hearing would be the staccato bark and thrust of the banker bringing up the rear.

    • 1960 October, P. Ransome-Wallis, “Modern motive power of the German Federal Railway: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 613:

      The water-level route, the whistle and the loud staccato exhaust of this great engine recalled most vividly memories of the New York Central Hudsons highballing along the Hudson River between Harmon and Albany!

  • (antonym(s) of “music”): legato

staccato

  1. staccato

staccato m (plural staccatos)

  1. staccato

From staccare (“to detach, separate”).

  • IPA(key): /stakˈka.to/
  • Rhymes: -ato
  • Hyphenation: stac‧cà‧to

staccato (feminine staccata, masculine plural staccati, feminine plural staccate)

  1. past participle of staccare

staccato (feminine staccata, masculine plural staccati, feminine plural staccate, superlative staccatissimo)

  1. disjointed, disunited, separate
  2. loose (pages in a book)
  3. (sports) outdistanced

staccato m (plural staccati)

  1. staccato

Unadapted borrowing from Italian staccato.

  • IPA(key): /stakˈka.tɔ/
  • Rhymes: -atɔ
  • Syllabification: stac‧ca‧to

staccato n (indeclinable, related adjective staccatowy)

  1. (music) staccato (articulation marking directing that a note or passage of notes are to be played in an abruptly disconnected manner, with each note sounding for a very short duration, and a short break lasting until the sounding of the next note)
    Antonym: legato
  2. (figurative, literary) staccato (any sound resembling a musical staccato)

or

Indeclinable

staccato (not comparable, no derived adverb)

  1. (music) staccato (describing a passage having this mark)
    Antonym: legato

staccato (not comparable)

  1. (music) staccato (played in this style)
    Antonym: legato
  • staccato I in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • staccato II in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • staccato III in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • staccato in Polish dictionaries at PWN
  • staccato in PWN's encyclopedia

Unadapted borrowing from Italian staccato.[1][2]

staccato m (plural staccati)

  1. (music) staccato (a style of playing short sharp notes)
  1. ^ “staccato”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
  2. ^ “staccato”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Unadapted borrowing from Italian staccato.

staccato

  1. staccato

staccato (not comparable)

  1. (music) staccato

staccato n

  1. (music) staccato (with a clear break between each tone)
  2. (music) staccato (staccato passage)
  3. (figuratively) staccato (of for example a way of speaking)