Etymology Borrowed from Italian crescendo, gerund of crescere (“to grow, to increase”).
1
Entertainment, Lifestyle, 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.
As he came into the window / It was the sound of a crescendo1987, Michael Jackson, “Smooth Criminal”, in Bad:
2
Figuratively A gradual increase of anything, especially to a dramatic climax.
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.2011 October 20, Michael da Silva, “Stoke 3 - 0 Macc Tel-Aviv”, in BBC Sport:
Etymology Borrowed from Italian crescendo, gerund of crescere (“to grow, to increase”).
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 November 1, Haley Nahman, “I got a camera to spy on my cat – and it made me question everything about myself”, in The Guardian:
crescendo
adv
Etymology Borrowed from Italian crescendo, gerund of crescere (“to grow, to increase”).
1
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music Gradually increasing in force or loudness.