: the rate of speed of a musical piece or passage indicated by one of a series of directions (such as largo, presto, or allegro) and often by an exact metronome marking
The song has a slow tempo. The composition has many changes of tempo. We walked at a fast tempo. The tempo of the game slowed down. The dance starts out fast and then switches tempo.
Recent Examples on the WebIf McCray can continue to run new coach Eric Dooley’s up-tempo offense efficiently against the Tigers, Southern could have a more competitive showing than some might expect against its power-conference host. Mark Heim | Mheim@al.com, al, 10 Sep. 2022 What’s kind of fabulous about that scene was our tempo was so connected. Jordan Moreau, Variety, 7 July 2022 Since his introduction to Chicago, Bulls coach Billy Donovan consistently has emphasized his ideal style — up-tempo with a priority on pushing the ball up the court. Julia Poe, chicagotribune.com, 29 Jan. 2022 The tempo was still fast and the playbook still deliberately simple. Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 2022 The increasing tempo of Ukraine’s Black Sea exports is the result of frenzied work in recent weeks by Ukrainian, Turkish, and U.N. officials who have been racing to operationalize the agreement since it was signed in July. William Mauldin, WSJ, 16 Aug. 2022 While eschewing ballads, Beyoncé finds ways to vary the tempo. Mosi Reeves, Rolling Stone, 29 July 2022 That's something Miami has to address by controlling tempo. Erick Smith, USA TODAY, 27 Mar. 2022 The Utes were the ones controlling tempo, walking the ball up the floor, often bleeding the shot clock to single digits in an effort to get a clean look. Josh Newman, The Salt Lake Tribune, 15 Jan. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from Italian, "time, rate of speed (in music)," going back to Latin tempor-, tempus "time, period of time, season," of uncertain origin
Note: If it originally meant "extent, measure" (hence, "extent of time"), Latin tempus could go back to an s-stem noun *temp-es- derived from an Indo-European verb base *temp- "stretch, extend," seen in Lithuanian tempiù, tem͂pti "to stretch, bend (a bow)," tìmpa "sinew, bowstring," Tocharian A & B cämp- "be able to" (if "stretch, exert effort" > "exert sufficient effort, be able"), and perhaps Old Norse þǫmb "womb, guts, bowstring." Though these are possibilities, the sum of comparable evidence for the etymon is not overwhelming.
1speed of an activity/event活動的速度VERB + TEMPO | TEMPO + VERB | PREPOSITIONVERB + TEMPO➤increase, raise, step up, up (especially BrE) 提高速度;加快節奏◇We need to step up the tempo of our information campaigns.我們需要加快我們信息宣傳活動的節奏。◇The home side upped the tempo in the second half.主隊在下半場加快了比賽節奏。➤slow, slow down放慢速度;減緩節奏➤vary改變節奏▸➤control, dictate, set控制節奏;設定節奏◇The Kenyan runner set the tempo from the start.肯尼亞運動員從一開始就定好了節奏。TEMPO + VERB➤quicken節奏加快▸➤slow節奏放慢▸➤change節奏改變PREPOSITION➤tempo of⋯的節奏◇the tempo of the game比賽節奏tempo
noun²
2speed of a piece of music音樂節奏ADJECTIVE | VERB + TEMPO | TEMPO + NOUN | PREPOSITIONADJECTIVE➤brisk, fast, quick, upbeat活潑的節拍;快節拍;歡快的節拍▸➤slow慢節拍▸➤moderate適中的節拍▸➤waltz, etc.華爾茲等節拍VERB + TEMPO➤change改變節拍TEMPO + NOUN➤indication, markings節拍標識/記號▸➤change, shift節拍變化/轉變PREPOSITION➤at a... tempo以⋯的節拍◇They took the last movement at an unusually slow tempo.他們以異常緩慢的節拍演奏了最後一個樂章。