Word of the Day

: April 24, 2021

impresario

noun im-pruh-SAHR-ee-oh

What It Means

1 : the promoter, manager, or conductor of an opera or concert company

2 : a person who puts on or sponsors an entertainment (such as a television show or sports event)

3 : manager, director

impresario in Context

The former heavyweight retired from the ring and later became a boxing impresario.

"Not only has he amassed more than 7.5 million views, the new poster boy for sailors' working songs has attracted a celebrity fan base, with musical impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber even recording himself singing along." — Katie Grant, iNews.co.uk (London), 21 Jan. 2021

Did You Know?

English borrowed impresario directly from Italian, whose noun impresa means "undertaking." A close relative is the English word emprise ("an adventurous, daring, or chivalric enterprise"), which, like impresario, traces back to the Latin verb prehendere, meaning "to seize." (That verb is also the source of apprehend, comprehend, and prehensile.) English speakers were impressed enough with impresario to borrow it in the 1700s, at first using it, as the Italians did, especially of opera company managers. It should be noted that, despite their apparent similarities, impress and impresario are not related. Impress is a descendant of the Latin pressare, a form of the verb premere, which means "to press."