opera

Definition of opera

(Entry 1 of 2)

plural of opus

opera

noun

op·era | \ ˈä-p(ə-)rə

, Southern also ˈä-prē\

Definition of opera (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : a drama set to music and made up of vocal pieces with orchestral accompaniment and orchestral overtures (see overture entry 1 sense 2) and interludes (see interlude sense 3) specifically : grand opera Beethoven composed only one opera.

2 : the score (see score entry 1 sense 6) of a musical drama The composer finished the opera in just six weeks.

3 : the performance of an opera The opera was delayed a half hour due to technical difficulties. also : a house where operas are performed We'll meet you at the opera at 7 p.m.

Examples of opera in a Sentence

Noun

I am going to an opera tonight.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Fashion was a strange 30-year accident on the path onward to my deepest dreams ever: art, images, and opera, ballet theater, illustrations etc. — Laird Borrelli-persson, Vogue, "Talking With @fkachristianlacroix, aka the Real Christian Lacroix, About Instagram and the 1980s," 13 Mar. 2019 The composer Richard Wagner, whose anti-Semitic legacy has long been debated, created staggering operas, based on Old Norse mythology, that doubled as paeans to an imagined German past. — Tara Isabella Burton, Vox, "The centuries-old history of Jewish “puppet master” conspiracy theories," 2 Nov. 2018 About Jack trying to rape Lily at the opera (seriously, what is with the Bass men and boundaries?)? — Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, "Every Single Episode of Gossip Girl, Ranked," 19 Sep. 2018 Learn about the elements of opera and participate in a chorus. — Chronicle Staff Report, San Francisco Chronicle, "Kids listings," 19 Apr. 2018 Hayek was born in Mexico, to an opera singer mother and a father of Lebanese descent who was an entrepreneur in the oil industry. — Elizabeth Day, Town & Country, "Salma Hayek Isn't Going to Let Anyone Define Her," 6 Mar. 2019 The opera-theater pieces of the Prototype Festival tackle unconventional subjects, often in uncomfortable ways, and two big shows of its seventh season are no exception. — Heidi Waleson, WSJ, "Portraits of Pain at the Prototype Festival," 9 Jan. 2019 The ecosystem of opera in America has never been more fertile and this country now enjoys a wonderful interplay of small and large expressions of the art form. — WSJ, "There’s Nothing Like Seeing an Opera With 3,000 Others," 24 Oct. 2018 Image Born in Oslo, Mr. Herheim, 48, practically has opera in his blood. — New York Times, "Stefan Herheim’s Glittering Collisions Have Changed Opera," 29 June 2018

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

History and Etymology for opera

Noun

borrowed from Italian, "work, labor, artistic production, drama set to music (originally short for opera musicale, opera in musica)," going back to Latin, "activity, effort, attention, work," collective derivative from oper-, opus "work, effort, product of labor" — more at opus

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