Word.ws English Dictionary

al niente

al niente adverb: indicating in music notation that the dynamics fade to nothing.

Adverb

al niente (not comparable)

  1. Indicating in music notation that the dynamics fade to nothing.
    • I would, anyhow, put my money on Nunc Dimittis with its atmospheric mood and beautifully original ending where, after the impact of a robust Gloria a solo soprano quietly reiterates the opening phrase senza misura with the rest of the choir singing Amens al niente on open fifths.1970, English Church Music, page 45
    • There is a strong feeling of renunciation, but this is softened somewhat by her enigmatic smile which implies a certain contentment and satisfaction, and the music dies away al niente.2005, Michael Halliwell, Opera and the Novel: The Case of Henry James

Origin of al niente

Borrowed from Italian al niente.

Questions about al niente

What does al niente mean?
Al niente means indicating in music notation that the dynamics fade to nothing.
What part of speech is al niente?
Al niente is an adverb.

Words near al niente in the dictionary

  1. Al Kanadis
  2. Al Kebulan
  3. Al Kut
  4. Al Mukalla
  5. Al Najaf
  6. al niente
  7. al pastor
  8. Al Qaeda
  9. Al Rayyan
  10. Al Shaddadi
  11. Al Tarf

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: al niente (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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