OSTINATO

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

Meaning:

A musical phrase repeated over and over during a composition

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("ostinato" is a kind of...):

musical phrase; phrase (a short musical passage)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ostinato"):

ground bass (a short melody in the bass that is constantly repeated)

riff (a jazz ostinato; usually provides a background for a solo improvisation)