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A "crushing" grace note — an extremely short ornamental note played almost simultaneously with the main note and immediately released.
The acciaccatura (notated as a small note with a line through its stem) is played as quickly as possible before the main beat. Use it for sharp, biting ornaments, especially in fast passages. In keyboard music, it can literally "crush" against the main note — struck simultaneously and immediately released.
Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas are full of acciaccaturas — sharp, biting ornaments that add brilliance and edge to his fast passages.
Acciaccatura is one of 1760 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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