noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A tempo in which strict timing is relaxed, the music being played near, but not on, the beat. countable, uncountable

   "The etudes with metronome markings should be played in tempo, all others should be considered rubato."

2. 2
   a flexible tempo; not strictly on the beat wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

andantebeatexecutionexpressionfingeringglissando

Example

More examples

"The etudes with metronome markings should be played in tempo, all others should be considered rubato."

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian rubato (“robbed, stolen”), since the time is "borrowed".

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