rubato

UK:*UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/ruːˈbɑːtəʊ/US:USA pronunciation: respellingUSA pronunciation: respelling(ro̅o̅ bä′tō; It. ro̅o̅ bä′tô)

Inflections of 'rubato' (n):
rubatos
npl
rubati
npl

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
ru•ba•to  (ro̅o̅ bä′tō; It. ro̅o̅ bä′tô),USA pronunciation adj., n., pl. -tos, -ti (-tē),USA pronunciation  adv. [Music.]

adj. 
  1. Music and Dancehaving certain notes arbitrarily lengthened while others are correspondingly shortened, or vice versa.

n. 
  1. Music and Dancea rubato phrase or passage.
  2. Music and Dancea rubato performance.

adv. 
  1. Music and Dancein a rubato manner.
  • Gmc; see rob
  • Italian (tempo) rubato stolen (time), past participle of rubare to steal
  • 1880–85

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
rubato / ruːˈbɑːtəʊ/ ( -tos)
  1. flexibility of tempo in performance
 ,
  1. (to be played) with a flexible tempo
Etymology: 19th Century: from the Italian phrase tempo rubato, literally: stolen time, from rubare to rob

Forum discussions with the word(s) "rubato" in the title:


Look up "rubato" at Merriam-Webster
Look up "rubato" at dictionary.com
  • Go to Preferences page and choose from different actions for taps or mouse clicks.

In other languages: Spanish | French | Italian | Portuguese | Romanian | German | Dutch | Swedish | Russian | Polish | Czech | Greek | Turkish | Chinese | Japanese | Korean | Arabic

Advertisements
Advertisements
Report an inappropriate ad.
WordReference.com
WORD OF THE DAY
GET THE DAILY EMAIL!

Become a WordReference Supporter to view the site ad-free.