The state of being abandoned or completely left alone; in music, a direction meaning to play with passionate abandon and freedom from restraint.
From Italian 'abbandono' (abandonment), derived from 'abbandonare,' which combines Latin 'ab-' (away from) and 'bandum' (a state or condition). In musical terminology, it was adopted from Italian to indicate a style of expressive, uninhibited playing.
Musicians borrowed this Italian word specifically because English had no single word capturing that wild, uncontrolled passion—composers needed a word that meant not just 'freedom' but 'passionate freedom,' and 'abbandono' became the perfect shorthand for letting emotions take over your playing.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.