rhizoverbBeta
DictionarystaccatoShort, detached expression
adjective / adverb / noun

staccato

stuh-KAH-toh/stəˈkɑːtəʊ/

A style marked by short, sharply separated sounds.

The dots above these notes tell musicians to play them staccato.

A close-up of a short passage of printed musical notation: four widely spaced eighth notes, each with a clear staccato dot directly above its notehead, alternating with eighth rests.
Etymology
staccatoItaliandetach, disconnect

Staccato describes sounds as detached from one another: slight pauses keep successive notes from running together. That musical image explains its use for short, sharply separated sounds more generally.

In context

Town Meeting TV29:43
all the woodwin and they're going to play it staccato very short notes so what was really lyrical and flowing is going to become all kind of chopped up and staccato kind of itchy scratchy dry
What’s So Great about Beethoven’s Fifth? | Education and Enrichment for Everyone

More examples

  • Her staccato laugh breaks the silence.
  • The pianist uses staccato to keep the melody light.
  • The engine sputters in short, staccato bursts.

Forms

staccato

Similar words

clipped
Describes speech with unusually short, abruptly ended sounds.
choppy
Emphasizes uneven interruptions rather than clean separation between sounds.
detached
In music, means separated without necessarily being sharply shortened.