| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| ossia |
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| SYLLABICATION: | os·si·a |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   -s   |
| CONJUNCTION: | Music Or else. Used as a direction to the performer to designate an alternate section or passage. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Italian, from o sia, or let it be : o, or (from Latin aut) + sia, third person sing. present subjunctive of essere, to be (from Latin esse; see es- in Appendix I).
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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