aria

noun

\ ˈär-ē-ə

plural arias also arie

Definition of aria

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : air, melody, tune specifically : an accompanied, elaborate melody sung (as in an opera) by a single voice enjoyed the soprano's romantic aria

2 : a striking solo performance (as in a movie) … Russell Crowe's performance in Gladiator was all about the physical stuff—it was a brute-force aria of fighting and flexing and unleashing hell …— Jeff Gordinier

3 : a written or spoken passage or text likened to a dramatic or emotional operatic solo … a plainspoken but moving aria on the joys of rural living … .— Lauren Collins

Aria

geographical name

\ ˈer-ē-ə

, ˈa-rē-ə, ə-ˈrī-ə\

Definition of Aria (Entry 2 of 2)

1 an eastern province of the ancient Persian Empire; district now in northwestern Afghanistan and eastern Iran

2 — see herat

Examples of aria in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

The signature aria calls for nine impossibly effortless high Cs, and Pavarotti received a record seventeen curtain calls. — Reagan Alexander, PEOPLE.com, "Five Things You Never Knew About Luciano Pavarotti, the Larger Than Life Opera Star," 13 June 2019 Her voice is innocence concealing a knife, an aria hijacked by a whine. — Jeffrey Fleishman, latimes.com, "Did she swallow helium? Let's take the high-pitched comedy of Erica Rhodes seriously," 7 June 2019 Monday: Listen to arias and duets in Central Park at the Metropolitan Opera’s first free summer concert this season. — Max Falkowitz, New York Times, "A Day at Queens Farm (and the Restaurants You Should Dig Into Afterward)," 5 June 2019 While some would have seen that as a nonstarter, the architect took it as a challenge, eschewing the conventional to create a design that optimized the use of space with vertical interlocking shapes that evoke music; not a sea shanty, but an aria. — Joan Morris, The Mercury News, "Look inside a Palo Alto home that imagines the sea and music," 4 June 2019 Breanna Sinclairé,‏ a transgender female singer, has performed arias with the San Francisco symphony, but hasn’t made a professional opera debut. — David Caraccio, sacbee, "Transgender baritone Lucia Lucas, born and raised in Sacramento, makes opera history," 4 June 2019 But at its most persuasive, First Person is an aria on the necessity of self-invention, on the faults of memory and the inadequacy of all language. — William Giraldi, Philly.com, "Richard Flanagan's 'First Person': A ghostwriter who fights lies with lies," 6 Apr. 2018 My favorite moment was the continuously escalating aria of the Sphinx, sung by the two women, wearing black bondage outfits. — Heidi Waleson, WSJ, "‘The Head & the Load’ and ‘Greek’ Reviews," 10 Dec. 2018 Cohn’s disappearance is explained in a brief aria sung by the famous bel canto mezzo-soprano Sarah Huckabee Sanders. — Daniel Henninger, WSJ, "Trump the Opera—II," 26 Dec. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'aria.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.