a cappella
adverb or adjective
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A Cappella Has Italian Roots
A cappella arrived in English in the 18th century via the Italian phrase a cappella, meaning "in chapel or choir style." (Medieval Latin capella, meaning "chapel," is the source of English chapel.) The a cappella style reached preeminence in the late 16th century in the music that composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina wrote for the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican. Because no independent instrumental parts were written down, scholars once thought that the choir sang unaccompanied, but current evidence makes clear that an organ or other instruments doubled some or several of the vocal parts. Regardless, today a cappella describes a purely vocal performance.
Examples of a cappella in a Sentence
Marina Watts, People.com, 9 May 2025
Grande’s webstore sold three exclusive variants of the download edition of the album: the 19-track edition, a version with the 19 tracks plus instrumentals of the same cuts, and another version with the 19 tracks and a cappella renditions of each cut (all with alternative cover artwork).
—Keith Caulfield, Billboard, 9 Apr. 2025
This 12-member, all-male a cappella vocal ensemble is on tour.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Mar. 2025
Grande’s webstore offered three exclusive download versions, including the 19-song edition, a version that included instrumentals of each cut, and another featuring a cappella versions of all the tracks.
—Althea Legaspi, Rolling Stone, 6 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for a cappella
Cite this Entry
“A cappella.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/a%20cappella. Accessed 28 May. 2025.
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a cappella
adverb or adjectivefrom Italian a cappella "in chapel style"
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