crescendo

(krə-shĕn'dō)
n., pl., -dos, or -di (-dē).

1. (Abbr. cr.) Music.
   1. A gradual increase, especially in the volume or intensity of sound in a passage.
   2. A passage played with a gradual increase in volume or intensity.
2. 1. 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).
   2. 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).

adj.
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.

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1. A crescendo, which in Italian means 'growing' (from Latin crescere 'to grow'), is originally a term in music for a gradual increase in loudness or force, or a passage played in this way. From this it developed an extended meaning referring to other cumulative increases in force or effect:

His second-in-command at the Embassy...was unrattled by the crescendo of disaster to the allied cause—J. Colville, 1976.

In the 1920s, and apparently first in American English, it developed further to mean the result rather than the process of increasing, and has been widely used as a synonym for peak or climax, notably in phrases such as reach (or rise to) a crescendo:

In the past week, as the date approached for the annual review of her detention order, international pressure reached a crescendo—Independent, 2007.

The newer use lies in disputed territory, and is likely to prevail as the more commonly required meaning, despite the availability of alternatives such as apogee, climax, culmination, peak, pinnacle, and summit.

2. The plural is crescendos. Crescendo is occasionally used as a verb meaning 'to increase in loudness or intensity', and has inflected forms crescendoes, crescendoed, crescendoing.

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(It.)

‘Growing’: an instruction to become louder, sometimes expressed with a ‘hairpin’ or abbreviated cresc. Decrescendo means the opposite, i.e. diminuendo.

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(kruh-shen-doh)

A musical direction used to indicate increasing loudness.

The term is sometimes used figuratively to indicate rising intensity in general: “As the days went on, there was a crescendo of angry letters about my speech.” Crescendo is also sometimes misused to indicate a peak of intensity, as in, “The angry letters about my speech hit a crescendo on Wednesday.”

A gradual increase in volume.

IN BRIEF: Gradually becoming louder or stronger.

That musical composition had one loud crescendo after another.

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For a list of words related to crescendo, see:

• Harmony, Melody, and Structure - crescendo: gradual, steady increase in volume; (adj) gradually increasing in volume

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See words rhyming with "crescendo."

Dansk (Danish)
n. - højdepunkt, crescendo, kulminationsproces
adv. - med gradvist stigende styrke
adj. - med gradvist stigende styrke
v. intr. - stige, tiltage gradvist

Nederlands (Dutch)
crescendo, geleidelijk toenemen van geluid/ intensiteit

Français (French)
n. - (Mus) crescendo, (fig) apogée, paroxysme
adv. - crescendo
adj. - (Mus) crescendo
v. intr. - faire un crescendo

Deutsch (German)
n. - (Mus.) Crescendo, Zunahme
v. - an (Laut)stärke zunehmen
adv. - crescendo
adj. - zunehmend

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (μουσ., μτφ.) κρεσέντο
v. - αυξάνω την ηχητική ένταση ή δύναμη
adv. - με εντεινόμενο ήχο
attrib. - εντεινόμενου ήχου

Italiano (Italian)
crescendo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - crescendo (m) (Mús.)
v. - crescer (Mús.)
adv. - em crescendo
attrib. - que cresce

Русский (Russian)
крещендо

Español (Spanish)
n. - crescendo
adv. - en forma creciente, in crescendo
adj. - crescendo
v. intr. - aumentar en volumen o intensidad

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - crescendo
v. - öka i volym o styrka
adv. - (med ett) crescendo
attr. - crescendo-

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
声音渐增, 渐次加强, 渐强的, 逐渐增强

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 聲音漸增
adv. - 漸次加強
adj. - 漸強的
v. intr. - 逐漸增強

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 크레센도, 점점 세어지기
adv. - 점점 세게
adj. - 점강음의
v. intr. - 점점 세어지다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - クレッシェンド, 盛り上がり

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) زيادة الشدة في الموسيقى (فعل) ذروة, تدرج نحو القمه (ظرف) تزايد الصوت أو الموسيقى (صفه) القمه, الذروة‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮קרשנדו, התקדמות לקראת שיא, התחזקות בהדרגה של קול, קטע לשירה בקול הולך ורם, שיא‬
adv. - ‮הולך וגובר, בעלייה‬
adj. - ‮הולך וגובר, בעלייה‬
v. intr. - ‮הלך וגבר (קול)‬

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