Allegretto
adv, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A movement in this time.
"It was only after the conception had received its fullest due, and the vast and complex organism its perfect development, that the certainty arose of an effect on human emotion comparable to that which was born when the opening bars of the allegretto in Beethoven's Seventh Symphony had been played for the first time, and the idea of them was from that moment alive and abroad in the world."
- 2 a musical composition or musical passage to be performed at a somewhat quicker tempo than andante but not as fast as allegro wordnet
- 3 a quicker tempo than andante but not as fast as allegro wordnet
- 1 (of tempo) faster than allegro wordnet
- 1 To be played rather fast and lively. not-comparable
- 1 in a moderately quick tempo wordnet
Example
More examples"It was only after the conception had received its fullest due, and the vast and complex organism its perfect development, that the certainty arose of an effect on human emotion comparable to that which was born when the opening bars of the allegretto in Beethoven's Seventh Symphony had been played for the first time, and the idea of them was from that moment alive and abroad in the world."
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian allegretto, diminutive form of allegro.
More for "allegretto"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.