noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An obbligato section; a prominent countermelody, often written to be played or sung above the principal theme (in a higher pitch range).

   "The noise of the traffic outside the building on the boulevard made an unmusical obbligato to my thinking."

2. 2
   a part of the score that must be performed without change or omission wordnet
3. 3
   a persistent but subordinate motif wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

obligato

Example

More examples

"The noise of the traffic outside the building on the boulevard made an unmusical obbligato to my thinking."

Etymology

From Italian obbligato. Piecewise doublet of obliged.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.