tempo

CEFRB2

/ˈtɛm.pəʊ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The speed of music or an activity.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A move which is part of one's own plan or strategy and forces, e.g. by means of a check or attacking a piece, the opponent to make a move which is not bad but of no use (the player gains a tempo, the opponent loses a tempo), or equivalently a player achieves...

Examples

  • Tom beat the drum at a slow tempo.

  • We're going too fast! I can't play a walking bass line at this tempo.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
1

Also pronounced

  • /ˈtɛm.poʊ/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The timing advantage of being on lead, thus being first to initiate a strategy to develop tricks for one's side.

  2. A frequency or rate.

  3. A move which is part of one's own plan or strategy and forces, e.g. by means of a check or attacking a piece, the opponent to make a move which is not bad but of no use (the player gains a tempo, the opponent loses a tempo), or equivalently a player achieves the same result in fewer moves by one approach rather than another.

More examples

In context

  • The conductor asked the orchestra to increase the tempo.

  • 10 calls per hour isn't a bad start, but we'll need to up the tempo if we want to reach our target of selling insurance policies.

  • the tempo effect in fertility measurements

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The conductor increased the blank of the music to make it more exciting.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Borrowed from Italian tempo, from Latin tempus (“time”). Doublet of tense. (truck or cargo van): A genericized trademark, originally associated with the manufacturer Vidal & Sohn Tempo-Werke GmbH.