Word.ws English Dictionary

fermata

UK/ˌfɜːˈmɑːtə//ˌfɜːɹˈmɑtə/

fermata noun: the holding of a note or rest for longer than its usual duration.

fermata: the holding of a note or rest for longer than its usual duration
Image: CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

fermata (countable and uncountable, plural fermatas or fermate)

  1. The holding of a note or rest for longer than its usual duration.
  2. (countable) The notation ⟨◌͒⟩ of such a prolongation, usually represented as a dot with a semi-circle above or below it, written above or below the prolonged note or rest.

Synonyms of fermata

Forms of fermata

pluralfermatas
pluralfermate

Origin of fermata

Borrowed from Italian fermata, from fermare (“to stop”).

Words that rhyme with fermata

3 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about fermata

What does fermata mean?
Fermata means the holding of a note or rest for longer than its usual duration.
What part of speech is fermata?
Fermata is a noun.
How do you pronounce fermata?
Fermata is pronounced /ˌfɜːˈmɑːtə/ (UK).
What is the plural of fermata?
The plural of fermata is fermatas.

Words near fermata in the dictionary

  1. Fermat's principle of least time
  2. Fermat-Apollonius circle
  3. Fermat-Apollonius circles
  4. Fermat-Torricelli point
  5. Fermat-Torricelli points
  6. fermata
  7. fermatas
  8. fermate
  9. Fermatian
  10. ferment
  11. fermentabilities

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fermata (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-fermata.ogg.

Cite this entry: “fermata.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fermata. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.