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noun
1.
a person's strong suit, or most highly developed characteristic, talent, or skill; something that one excels in: I don't know what her forte is, but it's not music. Synonyms: talent, skill, excellence, strength, strong point, specialty, proficiency; knack, bent.
2.
the stronger part of a sword blade, between the middle and the hilt (opposed to foible).
Origin:
1640–50; earlier fort < Middle French (see fort); disyllabic pronunciation by association with forte2
1640–50; earlier fort < Middle French (see fort); disyllabic pronunciation by association with forte2
Pronunciation note
In the sense of a person's strong suit (He draws well, but sculpture is his real forte), the older and historical pronunciation of forte is the one-syllable
[fawrt] or [fohrt], pronounced as the English word fort. The word is derived from the French word fort, meaning “strong.” A two-syllable pronunciation [fawr-tey] is increasingly heard, especially from younger educated speakers, perhaps owing to confusion with the musical term forte, pronounced in English as [fawr-tey] and in Italian as [fawr-te]. Both the one- and two-syllable pronunciations of forte are now considered standard.
In the sense of a person's strong suit (He draws well, but sculpture is his real forte), the older and historical pronunciation of forte is the one-syllable
[fawrt] or [fohrt], pronounced as the English word fort. The word is derived from the French word fort, meaning “strong.” A two-syllable pronunciation [fawr-tey] is increasingly heard, especially from younger educated speakers, perhaps owing to confusion with the musical term forte, pronounced in English as [fawr-tey] and in Italian as [fawr-te]. Both the one- and two-syllable pronunciations of forte are now considered standard.Popular References
—FORTE: An acronym for Fast On-orbit Rapid Recording of Transient Events, FORTE is a lightweight satellite orbiting Earth since August 1997. It is the first satellite made of an all-composite structure, and was designed to test new technologies for monitoring compliance with arms control treaties.
—Forte: A character in the 1997 animated film Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas. The actor Tim Curry provided the voice for Forte, who is a pipe organ.
—Kia Forte: A compact car manufactured by Kia Motors since 2008 and marketed worldwide.
—FORTE: An acronym for Fast On-orbit Rapid Recording of Transient Events, FORTE is a lightweight satellite orbiting Earth since August 1997. It is the first satellite made of an all-composite structure, and was designed to test new technologies for monitoring compliance with arms control treaties.
—Forte: A character in the 1997 animated film Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas. The actor Tim Curry provided the voice for Forte, who is a pipe organ.
—Kia Forte: A compact car manufactured by Kia Motors since 2008 and marketed worldwide.
Citations
“[George B.] McClellan is an intelligent engineer and officer, but not a commander to lead a great army in the field. To attack or advance with energy and power is not in him; to fight is not his forte.”
—Gideon Welles, from his diary entry for September 3, 1862, The Blue and the Gray: The Story of the Civil War as told by participants, Volumes 1-2, by Henry Steele Commager (1982) http://books.google.com/books?id=kaUOAQAAMAAJ
—Gideon Welles, from his diary entry for September 3, 1862, The Blue and the Gray: The Story of the Civil War as told by participants, Volumes 1-2, by Henry Steele Commager (1982) http://books.google.com/books?id=kaUOAQAAMAAJ
“Who was he kidding? It wasn't his forte. He had no forte. That was his forte.”
—Stanley Elkin, “The Guest,” Criers and Kibitzers, Kibitzers and Criers (1965) http://books.google.com/books?id=mMwcEg5jx1AC&pg=PA95
—Stanley Elkin, “The Guest,” Criers and Kibitzers, Kibitzers and Criers (1965) http://books.google.com/books?id=mMwcEg5jx1AC&pg=PA95
“Elegance, oratory, and women are his forte.”
—Luis Rafael Sánchez, Macho Camacho's Beat, transl. by Gregory Rabassa (2001) http://books.google.com/books?id=W7Oq5bON9zoC&pg=PA22#v=onepage&q&f=false
—Luis Rafael Sánchez, Macho Camacho's Beat, transl. by Gregory Rabassa (2001) http://books.google.com/books?id=W7Oq5bON9zoC&pg=PA22#v=onepage&q&f=false
“[B]e sure to hold the sword comfortably in front of you with the forte (not the hilt) guarding your head.”
—Richard Lane, Swashbuckling: a step-by-step guide to the art of stage combat and theatrical swordplay (1999) http://books.google.com/books?id=mjCcm3ZKrqQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
—Richard Lane, Swashbuckling: a step-by-step guide to the art of stage combat and theatrical swordplay (1999) http://books.google.com/books?id=mjCcm3ZKrqQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
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Forte
is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
adverb
2.
(a direction in a musical score or part) loudly.
noun
3.
a passage that is loud and played with force or is marked to be so. Abbr.: f
Origin:
1715–25; < Italian < Latin fortis strong
1715–25; < Italian < Latin fortis strong
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
|
Link To forte
Collins
World English Dictionary
| forte1 (fɔːt, ˈfɔːteɪ) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | something at which a person excels; strong point: cooking is my forte |
| 2. | fencing Compare foible the stronger section of a sword blade, between the hilt and the middle |
| [C17: from French fort, from fort (adj) strong, from Latin fortis] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
forte
1640s, from Fr. fort "strong point (of a sword blade)," also "fort," from M.Fr. fort (see fort); final -e- added 18c. in imitation of It. forte "strong." Meaning "strong point of a person" is from 1680s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary
forte [(fawr-tay)]A musical direction meaning “to be performed loudly”; the opposite of piano.
Note: The common keyboard instrument the pianoforte (“piano” for short) got its name because it could play both soft and loud notes.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
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