n., pl., -dos, or -di (-dē).
- (Abbr. cr.) Music.
- A gradual increase, especially in the volume or intensity of sound in a passage.
- A passage played with a gradual increase in volume or intensity.
- A steady increase in intensity or force: "insisted [that] all paragraphs ... should be structured as a crescendo rising to a climactic last sentence" (Henry A. Kissinger).
- Usage Problem. The climactic point or moment after such a progression: "The attacks ... began in December ... and reached a crescendo during [the president's] September visit" (Foreign Affairs).
Gradually increasing in volume, force, or intensity.
adv. Music
With a crescendo.
intr.v., -doed, -do·ing, -does.
To build up to or reach a point of great intensity, force, or volume: "The designer-name craze crescendoed in the mid-seventies" (Bernice Kanner).
[Italian, present participle of crescere, to increase, from Latin crēscere.]
USAGE NOTE Crescendo is sometimes used by reputable speakers and writers to denote a climax or peak, as in noise level, rather than an increase. Although citational evidence over time attests to widespread currency, it is difficult for anyone acquainted with the technical musical sense of crescendo to use it to mean "a peak." Fifty-five percent of the Usage Panel rejected it in the sentence When the guard sank a three-pointer to tie the game, the noise of the crowd reached a crescendo.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
