NOUN (1)

1. (music) a gradual increase in loudness;


VERB (1)

1. grow louder;
- Example: "The music crescendoes here"


ADJECTIVE (1)

1. gradually increasing in volume;

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Crescendo \Cres*cen"do\ (kr?s-s?n"d?; It. kr?-sh?n"d?), a. &
   adv. [It., from crescere to increase. See Crescent.] (Mus.)
   With a constantly increasing volume of voice; with gradually
   increasing strength and fullness of tone; -- a direction for
   the performance of music, indicated by the mark, or by
   writing the word on the score.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Crescendo \Cres*cen"do\, n. (Mus.)
   (a) A gradual increase in the strength and fullness of tone
       with which a passage is performed.
   (b) A passage to be performed with constantly increasing
       volume of tone.
       [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

crescendo
    adj 1: gradually increasing in volume
    n 1: (music) a gradual increase in loudness
    v 1: grow louder; "The music crescendoes here" [ant:
         decrescendo]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

209 Moby Thesaurus words for "crescendo":
   a cappella, abbandono, access, accession, accrescendo, accretion,
   accrual, accrue, accruement, accumulate, accumulation, acme,
   adagietto, adagio, add to, addition, adjunct, advance, affettuoso,
   aggrandize, aggrandizement, agilmente, agitato, allegretto,
   allegro, amabile, amoroso, ampliation, amplification, amplify,
   andante, andantino, apex, apogee, appassionatamente, appassionato,
   appreciate, appreciation, ascent, augment, augmentation,
   awake the dead, balloon, ballooning, blast, blast the ear, bloat,
   bloating, blow up, boom, boost, breed, brillante, broaden,
   broadening, build, build up, buildup, bulk, bulk out, capriccioso,
   capstone, climax, con affetto, con agilita, con agitazione,
   con amore, crash, crest, culmen, culmination, deafen, decrescendo,
   deployment, develop, development, dilate, diminuendo, din,
   dispersion, distend, dolce, edema, elevation, enlarge, enlargement,
   expand, expansion, extend, extension, fanning out, fill out,
   fill the air, flare, flood, forte, fortissimo, fullness, gain,
   gain strength, get ahead, go up, greaten, greatening, grow, growth,
   gush, hike, hike up, hiking, huff, increase, increment, inflate,
   inflation, intensify, intensity, jump, lamentabile, larghetto,
   larghissimo, largo, leap, legato, leggiero, loudishness, loudness,
   magnification, magnify, marcando, meridian, morendo, mount,
   mounting, multiplication, multiply, parlando, peak, peal,
   pianissimo, piano, pizzicato, prestissimo, presto, productiveness,
   proliferate, proliferation, puff, puff up, pump, pump up, raise,
   raising, rallentando, rarefy, rattle the windows, rend the air,
   rend the ears, resound, ring, rise, ritardando, ritenuto,
   rock the sky, run up, scherzando, scherzo, scherzoso, shoot up,
   snowball, snowballing, sonority, sonorousness, sordo, sotto voce,
   spiccato, splay, split the eardrums, split the ears, spread,
   spreading, staccato, startle the echoes, strengthen, stretch,
   stretto, stun, sufflate, surge, surge of sound, swell, swelling,
   thunder, tremolando, tremoloso, trillando, tumefy, tumescence, up,
   upping, upsurge, upswing, uptrend, upturn, volume, wax, waxing,
   widen, widening