maestro
Americannoun
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maestros,
plural
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maestri
plural
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an eminent composer, teacher, or conductor of music.
Toscanini and other great maestros.
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(initial capital letter) a title of respect used in addressing or referring to such a person.
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a master of any art.
the maestros of poetry.
noun
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a distinguished music teacher, conductor, or musician
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any man regarded as the master of an art: often used as a term of address
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of maestro
1790–1800; < Italian: master
Explanation
A maestro is an artistic master: someone who is skilled enough to be considered an artistic genius. Taking one music class or art class can teach you a lot, but it won't make you a maestro. Maestro (which comes from Italian) is reserved for people with an enormous amount of skill and talent. This word can apply to any type of artist — and sometimes, to people with impressive skills in other areas — but it's most commonly applied to musicians. Master composers, pianists, cellists, guitarists, and conductors are often called maestros.
Vocabulary lists containing maestro
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The Phantom Tollbooth
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Thybulle, a 6-foot-5 wing, is a maestro guarding off the ball.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
That mindset has made him a horror maestro for over three decades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
It’s a serious question: LeBron, would you rather have another ring—or would you rather be able to get up and down like a fairway maestro?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Statistics from the last Premier League season do not feature Manchester City maestro Rodri as he continued his return from a anterior cruciate ligament injury.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
“I am Chroma the Great,” he continued, gesturing broadly with his hands, “conductor of color, maestro of pigment, and director of the entire spectrum.”
From "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster
Just as much, those maestri would defer to Mr. Drucker’s interpretations of clarinet solos.
From New York Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
As an example let us take the case of the radio maestri.
From Time Magazine Archive
For five years now I've given up what I'd like to do, and I've tried, under the best maestri I could find, to make something out of my voice, so to speak.
From The Bent Twig by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
The art of Priscilla seems to me to satisfy this test much better than that of many of our modern maestri.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, July 7th, 1920 by Various
It was established in one of the halls of the Lateran, and even the Carlovingian kings obtained from it skilful maestri and organists.
From Pagan and Christian Rome by Rodolfo Amedeo Lanciani
Donning video headsets and armed with nothing more than a joystick and the Olympics’ fastest fingers, these maestros have the exact same objective as the athlete they’re filming: to be the best in the world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026
A photo in his shop shows maestros Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Bhajan Sopori performing with his instruments.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2025
Speaking of midfield maestros, the mercurial Zidane has been out of management since leaving Barcelona's Clasico rivals Real Madrid in 2021.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2024
Just as maestros from overseas have assumed top conducting posts in the United States, American artists have gone to Europe, Asia and elsewhere to lead renowned ensembles.
From New York Times ● Mar. 6, 2024
In the case of the classical musicians’ auditions, the maestros were incapable of making a fair judgment about how well someone was playing if they could see them.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
