Madame Butterfly

American  

Also Madama Butterfly

noun

1. an opera (1904) by Giacomo Puccini.

---

Madame Butterfly Cultural  

1. An opera by Giacomo Puccini. The title character, a Japanese woman, is betrothed to an American naval officer stationed in Japan. He leaves for the United States, promising to return, but comes back three years later married to an American woman. Butterfly, disgraced, stabs herself; the officer begs her forgiveness, and she dies in his arms.

---

Example Sentences

Age nine, struck down with a virus during the Asian flu pandemic, and so ill the doctor says she probably won't survive, her mother bought her a boxset recording of Puccini's Madame Butterfly and put it within eyeshot of her bed.

From BBC

She credits a boxed set of Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly” recordings her mother bought with tip money for her return to health.

From Los Angeles Times

Opera become the most supportive American opera company for Wilson, staging his transformative productions of “Madame Butterfly” and “Parsifal,” along with presenting “Einstein on the Beach” at UCLA.

From Los Angeles Times

She went to dozens of auditions but recalled that "a fat soprano singing Madame Butterfly rather badly always won".

From BBC

The company also showed an unexpected serious side, remounting its production of Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly” sung in English and Japanese.

From Los Angeles Times