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alla prima

[ah-luh pree-muh]
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noun Fine Arts.
  1. a painting technique in which a canvas is completed in one session, often having a thickly applied impasto.
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Origin of alla prima

< Italian: literally, at the first
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for alla prima

alla prima

adjective
  1. (of a painting) painted with a single layer of paint, in contrast to paintings built up layer by layer
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Word Origin

C19: from Italian: at once
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012