Meaning of ground bass | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A constantly repeated bassline or harmonic pattern in a piece.
   countable, uncountable
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see ground, bass.
   countable, uncountable

Examples

“In classical music there are, as the analytical programs tell⟳ us, first subjects and second subjects, free fantasias, recapitulations, and codas; there are fugues, with counter-subjects, strettos, and pedal points; there are passacaglias on ground basses, canons ad hypodiapente, and other ingenuities, which have⟳, after all, stood or fallen by their prettiness as much as the simplest folk-tune.”

CEFR level