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tempo.

A frequency or rate.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈtɛm.pəʊ/UK/ˈtɛm.poʊ/General-American
  1. A frequency or rate.

    10 calls per hour isn't a bad start, but we'll need to up the tempo if we want to reach our target of selling insurance policies.
  2. A move which is part of one's own plan or strategy and forces, e.g. by means of a check or attacking a piece, the opponent to make a move which is not bad but of no use (the player gains a tempo, the opponent loses a tempo), or equivalently a player achieves the same result in fewer moves by one approach rather than another.

  3. The timing advantage of being on lead, thus being first to initiate a strategy to develop tricks for one's side.

  4. The timing of a particular event – earlier or later than in an alternative situation.

    the tempo effect in fertility measurements
  5. The number of beats per minute in a piece of music; also, an indicative term denoting approximate rate of speed in written music (examples: allegro, andante)

    The conductor asked the orchestra to increase the tempo.
    The song has a slow tempo that makes it relaxing.
  6. The steady pace set by the frontmost riders.

  7. A small truck or cargo van with three or four wheels, commonly used for commercial transport and deliveries (particularly in Asian and African countries).

  8. A rapid rate of play by the offense resulting from reducing the amount of time which elapses after one play ends and the next starts.

Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Italian tempo, from Latin tempus (“time”). Doublet of tense. (truck or cargo van): A genericized trademark, originally associated with the manufacturer Vidal & Sohn Tempo-Werke GmbH.

noun/ˈtɛm.pəʊ/UK/ˈtɛm.poʊ/General-American
  1. A temporary carport.

Where this word comes from

Clipping of temporary.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.