cantilena
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of cantilena
1730–40; < Italian < Latin cantilēna refrain, perhaps by dissimilation from *cantilēla, derivative of cantus song; cant 1
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.
At one point, he and the dancers stop while a soprano, Joélle Harvey, in an upper balcony, sings a series of long cantilena lines very beautifully, though only some words can be distinguished.
From New York Times • Mar. 23, 2012
The soft neck and upper back, the eloquent épaulement, the cantilena phrasing – all were combined in a performance of ravishing individuality.
From The Guardian • May 29, 2010
Spinning out its delicately chromatic cantilena like the mistress of cantabile that she is, Soprano Caballe stopped the show for a full two minutes and 45 seconds.
From Time Magazine Archive
He would sing to her as she worked, a cantilena from / Puritani, a melody of Beethoven.
From Time Magazine Archive
What sane pianist would, for instance, attempt to play a cantilena with the same appealing sensuousness as the most mediocre 'cellist can do with the greatest ease?
From Piano Playing: With Piano Questions Answered by Hofmann, Josef
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.
