mezzo-soprano
noun
a voice or voice part intermediate in compass between soprano and contralto.
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mezzo-soprano
American
[met-soh-suh-pran-oh, -prah-noh, med-zoh-, mez-oh-]
/ ˈmɛt soʊ səˈpræn oʊ, -ˈprɑ noʊ, ˈmɛd zoʊ-, ˈmɛz oʊ- /
noun
-
mezzo-sopranos,
plural
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mezzo-soprani
plural
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a voice or voice part intermediate in compass between soprano and contralto.
-
a person having such a voice.
adjective
mezzo-soprano
British
noun
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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
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a singer with such a voice
mezzo soprano
Cultural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mezzo-soprano
Borrowed into English from Italian around 1745–55
Explanation
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!
Vocabulary lists containing mezzo-soprano
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:
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
But this Christmas, Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins has recorded a classical reinterpretation of a viral hit song, and learnt a little Korean in the process.
From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2025
Rebirth in this thrillingly massive symphony for a massive orchestra and chorus, along with soprano and mezzo-soprano soloists, was writ exceedingly large, transparent and loud.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2025
His thoughts were in the room overhead where the heart-disquieting mezzo-soprano was now singing a wistfuller song and no less sweet: "Phyllis has such charming graces I must love her or I die."
From The Deaves Affair by Hulbert Footner
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
Mr. Sauer accompanied the excellent mezzo soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano in an expressive interpretation of Mr. Lieberson’s “Rilke Songs.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2013
It was that mellow quality of sound that musicians call mezzo soprano, whose gift it is to steal softly over the senses and steep them in a sweet rapture of peaceful delight.
From The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly by Charles James Lever
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 W. E. Haslam
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
Baroque music, long the primary source of employment for countertenors — men who sing in the vocal register typically associated with mezzo-sopranos or altos — remains a major part of Mr. Costanzo’s career.
From New York Times ● Jul. 10, 2017
Every so often, buried among the mezzo-sopranos, conductors and set designers, an unusual credit line jumps out of a Metropolitan Opera program.
From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2015
This school had a wonderful system of memory-training which was endorsed by kings and emperors, merchant princes and famous mezzo-sopranos.
From Command by William McFee
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.
