Definition of "continuo" [con•ti•nu•o]

• An independent bass line, usually realized on a keyboard instrument, in which numerals written underneath the notes indicate the kinds of harmony to be played. Also called basso continuo, figured bass, thoroughbass. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "For opera newbies, the continuo is a bassline played continuously (as the name implies) under the recitative or vocal line."
• "The strings and the continuo lutes had a fiercely tart and tangy sound, deliberately unsensual and arresting."
• "The chorus of 34 and orchestra 42 players plus a continuo group of eight were superb; a group of the players even performed onstage in costume for the Dream scene."