staccato

adjective

stac·​ca·​to stə-ˈkä-(ˌ)tō 

1

a

: cut short or apart in performing : disconnected

staccato notes

b

: marked by short clear-cut playing or singing of tones or chords

a staccato style

2

: abrupt, disjointed

staccato screams

staccato adverb

staccato noun

Did you know?

English has borrowed a number of words from Italian that instruct on how a piece of music should be played. Examples include "allegro" ("at a brisk lively tempo"), "adagio" ("at a slow tempo"), and "fortissimo" ("very loud"). The instruction "staccato" describes music composed of tones that are short and noncontinuous rather than smoothly flowing together (a style noted by the instruction "legato"). Staccato derives from the past participle of the Italian verb staccare, meaning "to detach," and can now describe anything - not just sounds - made, done, or happening in an abrupt or disjointed way.

Examples of staccato in a Sentence

the staccato blasts of a horn

Recent Examples on the Web

She was still exhilarated; her voice was unusually staccato and intense. —Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 23 Apr. 2024

Part of the holdup (beyond Snapdragon laptop chips' lackluster performance) has been the staccato introduction of important native-running applications for Windows on Arm, leaving some key ones reliant on emulation to work on the platform. —John Burek, PCMAG, 26 Mar. 2024

Where Baraka often employs long, Whitmanesque lines, Harris’s are short and staccato. —Adam Bradley Tajh Rust, New York Times, 3 Mar. 2023

Gordon’s prose is relatively staccato, with lots of sentence fragments and short paragraphs, and the action moves rapidly, covering the events of just a few days. —Michael Dirda, Washington Post, 27 Jan. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Italian, from past participle of staccare to detach, from s- ex- (from Latin ex-) + attaccare to attack, attach, perhaps from Old French estachier — more at attach

First Known Use

circa 1724, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing staccato

• staccato mark

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Kids Definition

staccato

adjective

stac·​ca·​to stə-ˈkät-ō 

1

: cut short so as not to sound connected

staccato notes

2

: made up of rapid disconnected elements or sounds

staccato blasts of a horn

staccato adverb

staccato noun