| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| fermata |
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| SYLLABICATION: | fer·ma·ta |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  f r-mä t |
| NOUN: | Music 1. The prolongation of a tone, chord, or rest beyond its indicated time value. 2. The sign indicating this prolongation. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Italian, from feminine past participle of fermare, to stop, from Latin firm re, to make firm, from firmus, firm. See dher- in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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