# opera

Pronunciation: say "OP-uh-ruh" US /ˈɑp.ə.ɹə/, UK /ˈɒp.ə.ɹə/

## Noun

1. A dramatic work in which the story is told mainly through singing with instrumental music, sometimes including dance; also, the written score of such a work.
   - Simple: A play where the story is sung with music, or the written music for it.
   - _The composer spent five years writing an opera based on a famous novel._
   - _The opera opened with a storm scene full of thunderous singing._
2. The genre of sung dramatic stage works, and the art of composing them.
   - Simple: The type of stage performance where stories are told through singing and music.
   - _Italian opera reached new heights during the nineteenth century._
   - _Few art forms demand as much from a singer as opera does._
3. A building designed and equipped for the performance of operatic works; an opera house.
   - Simple: A large theater built especially for staging musical shows with singers.
   - _The tram stops right in front of the opera, a grand stone building from the 1860s._
   - _Crowds gathered outside the opera before the evening performance._
4. A showy, melodramatic, or unrealistic spectacle that resembles an opera in its excess and drama.
   - Simple: A showy, overdramatic event that feels as wild and exaggerated as a stage opera.
   - _The negotiation collapsed into an opera of accusations and dramatic walkouts._
   - _What should have been a simple meeting became an opera of egos and grand gestures._
5. An organized company of singers, musicians, and crew dedicated to performing operatic works.
   - Simple: A group of singers and musicians who work together to perform operas.
   - _The national opera announced an ambitious season of six productions._
   - _Funding cuts forced the regional opera to cancel its spring tour._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Plural of opus: numbered works by a composer, or creative works in general.

## Origin

Oeuvre, opus, and ure are doublets of this word, which English borrowed straight from the identical Italian word.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/opera (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).