opera buffa
Americannoun
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an Italian farcical comic opera originating in the 18th century and containing recitativo secco, patter songs, and ensemble finales.
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the operatic genre comprising such works.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of opera buffa
Borrowed into English from Italian around 1795–1805
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.
Felice Romani’s libretto also has an unusual—rather meta—construction: It includes a poet who is trying to write an opera buffa and narrates the events, a nod to Mozart’s “Così fan tutte.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
A comic opera ends with a wedding, and our opera buffa is no exception.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2023
It has more in common with Mozart’s opera buffa than with “Days of Our Lives.”
From Washington Post ● Jul. 16, 2015
Berlusconi turned it into opera buffa, was in office longer than any other Italian Prime Minister, and ended up in court.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 22, 2015
"Don Giovanni," an opera buffa in two acts, words by Da Ponte, was first produced at Prague, Oct.
From The Standard Operas (12th edition) Their Plots, Their Music, and Their Composers by Upton, George P. (George Putnam)
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.