commedia dell'arte

[ kuh-mey-dee-uhdel-ahr-tee; Italian kawm-me-dyah del-lahr-te ]

/ kəˈmeɪ di ə dɛlˈɑr ti; Italian kɔmˈmɛ dyɑ dɛlˈlɑr tɛ /

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noun, plural com·me·di·a dell'ar·tes, com·me·di·as dell'ar·te, Italian com·me·die dell'ar·te

[kawm-me-dye del-lahr-te]. /kɔmˈmɛ dyɛ dɛlˈlɑr tɛ/.

Italian popular comedy, developed chiefly during the 16th–18th centuries, in which masked entertainers improvised from a plot outline based on themes associated with stock characters and situations.

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Origin of commedia dell'arte

1875–80; <Italian: literally, comedy of art

Words nearby commedia dell'arte

comma splice, comm badge, commeasurable, commeasure, comme ci, comme ça, commedia dell'arte, comme il faut, commemorate, commemoration, commemorative, commemoratory

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use commedia dell'arte in a sentence

I refer to the period of the so-called commedia dell'arte, which flourished all over Italy throughout the sixteenth century.
The Theory of the Theatre|Clayton Hamilton

British Dictionary definitions for commedia dell'arte

commedia dell'arte

/ (Italian kɔmˈmeːdia delˈlarte) /

noun

a form of popular comedy developed in Italy during the 16th to 18th centuries, with stock characters such as Punchinello, Harlequin, and Columbine, in situations improvised from a plot outline

Word Origin for commedia dell'arte

Italian, literally: comedy of art

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