crescendo

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian crescendo, gerund of crescere (“to grow, to increase”).

noun

1. (music) An instruction to play gradually more loudly, denoted by a long, narrow angle with its apex on the left ( < ), by musicians called a hairpin.
2. (figurative) A gradual increase of anything, especially to a dramatic climax.
   Their fighting rose in a fearsome crescendo.
3. (figurative, nonstandard) The climax of a gradual increase.
   Their arguing rose to a fearsome crescendo.
   With the Stoke supporters jeering Ziv's every subsequent touch, the pantomime atmosphere created by the home crowd reached a crescendo when Ziv was shown a straight red shortly after the break in extraordinary circumstances. October 20, 2011, Michael da Silva, “Stoke 3 - 0 Macc Tel-Aviv”, in BBC Sport

verb

1. To increase in intensity; to reach or head for a crescendo.
   The band crescendoed and then suddenly went silent.
   And similarly, they are full of tricks: when the imagined stranger calls your name, the music crescendos romantically; when the video freezes on your laugh, it immediately desaturates the candid photo, making you look old-timey or famous or dead. 2021-11-01, Haley Nahman, “I got a camera to spy on my cat – and it made me question everything about myself”, in The Guardian

adv

1. (music) Gradually increasing in force or loudness.