cabaletta
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of cabaletta
1835–45; < Italian, alteration of coboletta stanza, diminutive of cob ( b ) ola, cobla stanza, couplet < Old Provençal cobla < Latin cōpula bond; see copula
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As she scrabbled for a laser pointer in her large handbag, her coloratura was comically on point, though she was inaudible in her middle range during the cabaletta.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 1, 2025
An associate director an ocean away didn’t realize he also planned to perform the cabaletta, the faster-moving second part.
From Washington Times • Apr. 26, 2020
She made a tremendous impact in her multisectional final scene, in which Gemma sings of entering a convent, then reacts with horror to Tamas’s crime in a final cabaletta of despair.
From New York Times • Sep. 20, 2011
Every cabaletta or other quick number is abridged, usually drastically, which upsets the balance between fast and slow tempos.
From New York Times • Apr. 12, 2011
Is there no cabaletta to it—not even a full close?
From The Perfect Wagnerite, Commentary on the Ring by Shaw, Bernard
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
