staccato
Adjective
- (music) marked by or composed of disconnected parts or sounds; cut short crisply
- "staccato applause"
- "a staccato command"
- "staccato notes"
Adverb
- separating the notes; in music
- "play this staccato, please"
Noun
- A musical style played with distinct, detached, and abrupt notes.
- 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.
- A passage having this mark.
- Any sound resembling a musical staccato.
Adv
- played in this style
Adj
- Describing a passage having this mark.
- Made up of abruptly disconnected parts or sounds.
Examples
- According to the syllable-timed hypothesis, Spanish syllables as staccato.
- Her Scrabble strategy was STACCATO, playing short, sharp words for quick points.
Origin / Etymology
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.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Scrabble Score: 12
staccato: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordstaccato: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
staccato: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary
Words With Friends Score: 14
staccato: valid Words With Friends Word