Past tense of crescendo; increased gradually in volume or intensity.
From Italian 'crescendo' plus the regular English past tense suffix '-ed.' This Anglicized form allows the Italian musical term to be used as a regular English verb.
When a movie scene crescendoed perfectly—like when the sad moment in a film hits while the music swells—it's because sound designers understand that our brains literally pay more attention to increasing volume, an ancient survival instinct.
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