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definitions

grand opera

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noun

a serious, usually tragic, opera in which most of the text is set to music.

Origin of grand opera

First recorded in 1795–1805
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for grand opera

Historical Examples of grand opera

  • "That is another angle of the grand-opera proposition, Mawruss," Abe said.

    Worrying Won't Win

    Montague Glass

  • He is one of the greatest 'cellists we have, and is married to Madame Concetta Doria, the grand-opera singer.

    Kit of Greenacre Farm

    Izola Forrester

  • There were things in that bag I couldn't have believed existed out of a museum or a grand-opera property-room.

  • It is not like looking back from the front seat in the pit upon a grand-opera night—the colors are all sober.

  • “Mr. Fairfax is giving a luncheon for two of the grand-opera people,” she explained.

    What's-His-Name

    George Barr McCutcheon

British Dictionary definitions for grand opera

grand opera

noun

an opera that has a serious plot and is entirely in musical form, with no spoken dialogue
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