a voice or voice part intermediate in compass between soprano and contralto.
a person having such a voice.
Sometimes shortened to: mezzo. a female voice intermediate between a soprano and contralto and having a range from the A below middle C to the F an eleventh above it
a singer with such a voice
Borrowed into English from Italian around 1745–55
In classical music, a mezzo-soprano is the second-highest singing voice. While they don't sing the very highest notes, mezzo-sopranos reach higher registers than contraltos. In Italian, mezzo means "middle," and soprano, "the treble in music," is from a root meaning "above." Mezzo-sopranos are right in the middle, between soprano and contralto voices. Classical music lovers describe mezzo-sopranos as sounding darker and richer than the brighter, higher tone of a soprano. If you want be an opera or choral singer but you can't quite reach those high notes, you may be a mezzo-soprano!
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For celebrated US mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, taking on the piece at the current time was necessary.
From Barron's ● Apr. 5, 2026
Nina Yoshida Nelsen, an Asian mezzo-soprano who is now the artistic director of the Boston Lyric Opera, summed up her personal approach toward such matters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
The moment took place after the mezzo-soprano performed at the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Concert in 2022.
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2026
The sublimity of this “Oedipe” is fateful thanks to the festival’s probing new artistic director, Finnish mezzo-soprano Lilli Paasikivi.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
She had a gay, handsome face, a winning mezzo-soprano voice, and neat execution.
From Famous Singers of To-day and Yesterday by Lahee, Henry C.
O’Connor, a multi-octave mezzo soprano of extraordinary emotional range who was recognizable by her shaved head, began her career singing on the streets of Dublin and soon rose to international fame.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 8, 2023
Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt will deliver a remembrance and there will be a pair of musical selections from mezzo soprano Denyce Graves, with Lauren Ward on piano.
From Fox News ● Sep. 25, 2020
TV star June Whitfield, mezzo soprano Sarah Connolly and 100-year-old Gone with the Wind actress Olivia de Havilland also join Dame Julie as new dames.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2017
Barbara Smith Conrad, an acclaimed mezzo soprano who died May 22 at 79, sang on the most illustrious stages of the world, from New York’s Metropolitan Opera to the Vienna State Opera.
From Washington Post ● May 24, 2017
A high-bosomed young woman with a powerful mezzo soprano that pulled her mouth to a rhomboid sang Santuzza's famous aria from "Cavalleria Rusticana," stopping suddenly to some unseen signal.
From Star-Dust by Hurst, Fannie
Tolerable baritones have been transformed into very mediocre tenors, capable mezzo-soprani into very indifferent dramatic soprani, and so on.
From Style in Singing by Haslam, W. E.
“Almost all of Verdi’s roles, especially for mezzo-sopranos, are contradictory and bright,” she said.
From New York Times ● Jul. 1, 2023
That same year, one of the group’s two mezzo-sopranos, Caroline Shaw, won the Pulitzer Prize for music for her piece “Partita for 8 Voices.”
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 4, 2019
Among the guest vocalists are baritone Kevin Deas, mezzo-sopranos Sheila Houlahan and Kristen Choi, and tenor Ross Hauck.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 6, 2018
Heggie has long cultivated top singers, particularly mezzo-sopranos.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2016
In sopranos and mezzo-sopranos the whole glottis is sometimes open to , often to , beyond which the cartilaginous glottis is usually closed.
From Voice Production in Singing and Speaking Based on Scientific Principles (Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged) by Mills, Wesley
Definitions 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.
