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ballerina

[ bal-uh-ree-nuh ]
/ ˌbæl əˈri nə /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR ballerina ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a principal female dancer in a ballet company.Compare prima ballerina.
any female ballet dancer.
a woman's very low-heeled or heelless shoe or slipper, made to resemble a ballet slipper.

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Compare ballet slipper.

Origin of ballerina

1785–95; <Italian, feminine of ballerino professional dancer, probably equivalent to baller(ia) dance (ball(are) to dance (<Late Latin; see ball2) + -eria<Old French; see -ery) + -ino-ine1

Words nearby ballerina

ball club, ball cock, ball control, balled-and-burlapped, baller, ballerina, Ballesteros, ballet, ballet blanc, ballet flat, ballet master
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Words related to ballerina

coryphee

Example sentences from the Web for ballerina

British Dictionary definitions for ballerina

ballerina
/ (ˌbæləˈriːnə) /

noun

a female ballet dancer
US the principal female dancer of a ballet company

Word Origin for ballerina

C18: from Italian, feminine of ballerino dancing master, from ballare to dance, from Late Latin ballāre : see ball ²
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

Cultural definitions for ballerina

ballerina

In ballet, a female dancer. (See prima ballerina.)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.