Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

grand opera

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

Origin of grand opera

First recorded in 1795–1805
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

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