stretto

Borrowed from Italian stretto. Doublet of strait and strict.

• IPA^(key): /ˈstɹɛtəʊ/
• Rhymes: -ɛtəʊ

stretto (countable and uncountable, plural strettos or stretti)

1. (music) The presence of two close or overlapping statements of the subject of a fugue, especially towards the end.
2. (music) An acceleration in the tempo of an opera that produces an ending climax.

stretto (not comparable)

1. (music) With gradually increasing speed.

stretto (not comparable)

1. (music) Having gradually increasing speed.
   • 1960, Thomas Pynchon, Entropy:

     So that over and above the public components – holidays, tourist attractions – there are private meanderings, linked to the climate as if this spell were a stretto passage in the year’s fugue: haphazard weather, aimless loves, unpredicted commitments…

• totters, stotter, Totters, tortest, rottest

From Latin strictus, perfect passive participle of stringō.

• IPA^(key): /ˈstret.to/

• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -etto
• Hyphenation: strét‧to

stretto (feminine stretta, masculine plural stretti, feminine plural strette, superlative strettissimo)

1. narrow

   Antonym: largo

2. tight
3. strict
4. (linguistics) close

stretto m (plural stretti)

1. strait

stretto (feminine stretta, masculine plural stretti, feminine plural strette)

1. past participle of stringere

• strettura
• ristretto

Unadapted borrowing from Italian stretto.

stretto

1. stretto