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• comic opera
  comic opera

  noun

  a diverting opera with spoken dialogue and a happy ending.
• comic-opera
  comic-opera

  adjective

  comically vainglorious; having farcically self-important aspects.

comic opera

¹ American  

noun

1. a diverting opera with spoken dialogue and a happy ending.

2. the tradition or genre of such operas.

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comic-opera ² American  

[kom-ik-op-er-uh, -op-ruh] / ˈkɒm ɪkˈɒp ər ə, -ˈɒp rə /

adjective

1. comically vainglorious; having farcically self-important aspects.

   a comic-opera army, proud in its ceremonial splendor but inept on the battlefield.

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comic opera British  

noun

1. a play largely set to music, employing comic effects or situations See also opéra bouffe opera buffa

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Etymology

Origin of comic opera

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

comic opera comic-opera

Hemingway once wrote, “And Barcelona. You should see Barcelona. It is all still comic opera… Barcelona makes you laugh.”

From Salon ● Dec. 6, 2025

In "La Fille du Regiment," Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti's comic opera, the Canadian-American actress plays the Duchess of Krakenthorp, who reluctantly marries off her son.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2025

A comic opera ends with a wedding, and our opera buffa is no exception.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2023

In these times, performing, even — or especially — in a comic opera, becomes a calling, and as she speaks, Syniakova’s heightened emotion takes an evangelical tone.

From Seattle Times ● May 4, 2022

“It’s like a comic opera to-day. Maybe I'm hungry.”

From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway

That office was a comic-opera patronage swamp, and Mr. Cooney set a land-speed recording for draining it.

From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2017

In the blinding light of day, the mass of rock flattens into two dimensions, like a cardboard cutout on a comic-opera set.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 6, 2016

One day, several comic-opera officials from the Italian border police boarded our Centovalli Railway train high in the mountains to check passports.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 12, 2015

"I had to pinch myself several times during her visit to be sure I wasn't dreaming the comic-opera story she unfolded," he wrote.

From Seattle Times ● May 30, 2010

Like many red hunts of the day, the Tenney hearing had a Gilbert and Sullivan comic-opera flavor.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik