glissando
noun
glis·san·do
| \ gli-ˈsän-(ˌ)dō
\
\
plural glissandi\ gli-ˈsän-(ˌ)dē
\
or glissandos
\
or glissandos
Definition of glissando
: a rapid sliding up or down the musical scale
Examples of glissando in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Some of these events recurred, like glissandos, playing on the bridge, and furiously bowed tremolos. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Review: At Fresh Sound concert, Flux Quartet challenges listeners with daring works," 7 Aug. 2019 Whose soul doesn’t soar at the sound of that remarkable opening, with its clarinet glissando? — Will Friedwald, WSJ, "‘A Rhapsody in Blue: The Extraordinary Life of Oscar Levant’ Review," 21 Aug. 2018 This inspired some of the others to cry out as well, until the room rang with the crisscrossing glissandos of primate music. — Andrew Liptak, The Verge, "Read an excerpt from Kim Stanley Robinson’s next book," 18 Oct. 2018 Scales fly up and down, one impeccable glissando at a time, pausing briefly before climbing to the next half-step. — Paul Klenk, New York Times, "‘Godfather Waltz’," 2 July 2018 Particularly striking is the third movement, packed with eerie string glissandos that set off the orgiastic climaxes that follow. — John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, "Riccardo Muti and Yo-Yo Ma turn up the heat in an all-Russian program," 15 June 2018 Impressionistic string arpeggios, along with other rapid figures, moody thick chords and glissandi pervade much of the piece. — Mark Swed, latimes.com, "Salonen's 'Pollux' supplies some grunge for L.A. Phil tour," 16 Apr. 2018 Kim works within a musical philosophy that views every note and every individual articulation as alive, with glissando, attack, shape and tone as a unique and living embodiment of the music/life essence. — John Adamian, courant.com, "Jin Hi Kim's One Sky II For Orchestra To Premiere At Wesleyan," 7 Apr. 2018 The waves rolling into the shore make cascades of sound, sometimes regular rhythms and sometimes duples and triples and offbeat syncopations—all set against the arpeggios and glissandos of the birds. — Alan Hirshfeld, WSJ, "‘Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine’ Review: A Longing for Truth and Meaning," 6 Apr. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'glissando.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more