glis·san·do
| \ gli-ˈsän-(ˌ)dō
\
\
plural glissandi\
gli-ˈsän-(ˌ)dē
\ or glissandos
\ or glissandos
Definition of glissando
: a rapid sliding up or down the musical scale
Examples of glissando in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Its 30-second countdown has become synonymous with any deadline pressure, with a wood block timekeeper and a harp glissando finish as well as pizzicato strings at the very end.
—
New York Times, "Alex Trebek, Longtime Host of ‘Jeopardy!,’ Dies at 80," 8 Nov. 2020
In the score, these processes of obliteration are mimicked in distortions of instrumental voices: coarse attacks, underblown and overblown notes, tongue slaps, glissandos, all manner of scraping and scrubbing sounds in the percussion.
—
Alex Ross, The New Yorker, "Víkingur Ólafsson, Liza Lim, and a Surge of Streaming in Quarantine," 27 Apr. 2020
That sound was the central element of the work, written for string quartet, and Merivale kept it interesting by continually varying the nature, tempo, range and instrumentation of each glissando.
—
Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, "CSO’s MusicNOW review: Welcome new sounds from Eliza Brown and Wang Lu," 8 Oct. 2019
Some of these events recurred, like glissandos, playing on the bridge, and furiously bowed tremolos.
—
San Diego Union-Tribune, "Review: At Fresh Sound concert, Flux Quartet challenges listeners with daring works," 7 Aug. 2019
Whose soul doesn’t soar at the sound of that remarkable opening, with its clarinet glissando?
—
Will Friedwald, WSJ, "‘A Rhapsody in Blue: The Extraordinary Life of Oscar Levant’ Review," 21 Aug. 2018
This inspired some of the others to cry out as well, until the room rang with the crisscrossing glissandos of primate music.
—
Andrew Liptak, The Verge, "Read an excerpt from Kim Stanley Robinson’s next book," 18 Oct. 2018
Scales fly up and down, one impeccable glissando at a time, pausing briefly before climbing to the next half-step.
—
Paul Klenk, New York Times, "‘Godfather Waltz’," 2 July 2018
Particularly striking is the third movement, packed with eerie string glissandos that set off the orgiastic climaxes that follow.
—
John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, "Riccardo Muti and Yo-Yo Ma turn up the heat in an all-Russian program," 15 June 2018
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'glissando.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Learn More about glissando
Dictionary Entries near glissando
See More Nearby EntriesStatistics for glissando
Look-up Popularity
Cite this Entry
“Glissando.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glissando. Accessed 8 May. 2021.
Style: MLA
MLA
Chicago
APA
Merriam-Webster
Chicago
APA
Merriam-Webster
Comments on glissando
What made you want to look up glissando? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
Star Wars Words Quiz
-
- The bounty portion of bounty hunters (such as Boba Fett) comes from a Latin word meaning
Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
Spell words. Make bears.
TAKE THE QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Words at Play
Ask the Editors
Share glissando
Time Traveler for glissando
The first known use of glissando was circa 1854
See more words from the same year