grand opera

noun

: opera in which the plot is serious or tragic and the entire text is set to music

Examples of grand opera in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web When the company was first formed, there was much talk about whether Los Angeles had an appetite for grand opera. Adam Nagourney, New York Times, 12 May 2023 But, even as New York City began recovering from the depths of the pandemic, the sheer complexities and hazards of assembling a grand opera at Met scale — hundreds of performers, musicians, chorus and stagehands working in close quarters for long stretches — couldn’t be resolved. Washington Post, 24 Sep. 2020 Vocalized joy poems bend genres and arias of longing evoke a grand opera thrust into the multiverse. Risa Sarachan, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2023 The Dallas Opera’s return to grand opera comes after two tough years. Dallas News, 16 Feb. 2022 Because absolutely my job was to tell the kind of grand opera of the big story of Elvis, the Colonel, Priscilla. Los Angeles Times, 15 Nov. 2022 The Lyric Opera of Chicago is currently showing Verdi’s grand opera Don Carlos and Rossini’s Le Comte Ory. Judy Koutsky, Forbes, 10 Nov. 2022 McCormic was a protege of the marvelous Mary Garden, who was resurrecting a grand opera company out of financial ruin. Celia Storey, Arkansas Online, 7 Nov. 2022 Abels transcribed her threads and wove them into grand opera, drawing inspiration from classical Americana, gospel music and Arabic modalities alike. Tim Greiving, Los Angeles Times, 21 Oct. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'grand opera.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1720, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of grand opera was in 1720

Dictionary Entries Near grand opera

Cite this Entry

“Grand opera.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grand%20opera. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

grand opera

noun
: a serious opera in which the entire text is sung
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