forte
UK /ˈfɔːteɪ/ · US /ˈfoɹ.teɪ/ noun, adverb, adjective, proper noun
Forms fortes fortissimo fortississimo
- noun A strength or talent; a strong point. “He writes respectably, but poetry is not his forte.”
- noun The strong part of a sword blade, close to the hilt.
- adverb (music) Loudly, as a dynamic in a piece of music. “The musicians played the passage forte.”
- adjective (music) Loud. “This passage is forte, then there's a diminuendo to mezzo piano.”
- noun A passage in music to be played loudly; a loud section of music. “This forte marks the climax of the second movement.”
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
bent gift knack long suit métier speciality strength strong suit talent specialty strong point fortissimo loud loudly
Antonyms
Etymology
Borrowed 1640–50; earlier fort < Middle French; disyllabic pronunciation by association with Italian forte, from Latin fortis (“strong”). Doublet of fort and fortis.
Borrowed from Italian forte (“strong”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The strong point; that in which one excels. fort"a The construction of a fable seems by no means the forte of our modern poetical writers. Jeffrey.
- noun The stronger part of the blade of a sword; the part of half nearest the hilt; --opposed to foible.
- adverb Loudly; strongly; powerfully.
Etymology [IT. forte: cf. F. fort. See Fort.]
Etymology [It. forte, a. & adv., fr. L. fortis strong.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “forte”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details