ballet
a classical dance form demanding grace and precision and employing formalized steps and gestures set in intricate, flowing patterns to create expression through movement.
a theatrical entertainment in which ballet dancing and music, often with scenery and costumes, combine to tell a story, establish an emotional atmosphere, etc.
an interlude of ballet in an operatic performance.
a company of ballet dancers.
the musical score for a ballet: the brilliant ballets of Tchaikovsky.
a dance or balletlike performance: an ice-skating ballet.
Origin of ballet
1Other words from ballet
- bal·let·ic [ba-let-ik, buh-], /bæˈlɛt ɪk, bə-/, adjective
- bal·let·i·cal·ly, adverb
Words that may be confused with ballet
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use ballet in a sentence
Olga had served as a professional ballerina for the Ballets Russes up until she met Picasso in 1917.
If gesticulation be also a means of expressing character, as in ballets, this is only a secondary means.
Tolstoy on Shakespeare | Leo TolstoyElectors birthday; Le Nozze, music by Galuppi, and two ballets.
The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume I (of 3) | Alexander Wheelock ThayerLa Pastorella al Soglio (composer not named, probably Latilla), and two ballets.
The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume I (of 3) | Alexander Wheelock ThayerIn other words the three ballets that form it are seldom the Big Three that are nearest my heart.
The ballets were given in costume, but against a black backcloth, the scenery being then in Paris.
An Autobiography | Igor Stravinsky
British Dictionary definitions for ballet
/ (ˈbæleɪ, bæˈleɪ) /
a classical style of expressive dancing based on precise conventional steps with gestures and movements of grace and fluidity
(as modifier): ballet dancer
a theatrical representation of a story or theme performed to music by ballet dancers
a troupe of ballet dancers
a piece of music written for a ballet
Origin of ballet
1Derived forms of ballet
- balletic (bæˈlɛtɪk), adjective
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 ballet
Theatrical entertainment in which dancers, usually accompanied by music, tell a story or express a mood through their movements. The technique of ballet is elaborate and requires many years of training. Two classical ballets are Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Two great modern ballets are The Rite of Spring, composed by Igor Stravinsky, and Fancy Free, by Leonard Bernstein.
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.
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