Ritardando

adj, adv, noun

adj, adv, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An instance of gradually decelerating the tempo of a piece of music.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Having a gradually decelerating tempo. not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    (music) gradually decreasing in tempo wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    Gradually decelerating the tempo of a piece of music, especially at the end of the piece. not-comparable

Synonyms

All synonyms
rallentandoa pocoadagiettoadagioallargandoallegretto

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian ritardando, gerund of ritardare (“to delay, to slow down”).

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