operetta
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of operetta
1760–70; < Italian, diminutive of opera opera 1
Vocabulary lists containing operetta
Theater - High School
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
List 7
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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.
These mid-century dream teams revolutionized American theater by popularizing the integrated musical, a form which leveraged classic operetta elements like song and dance as narrative tools.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2026
But Lubitsch envisioned, as no one else did, what might come of marrying sound films with a modified form of operetta.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026
The singer sported a Union Jack jester's hat for the traditional performance of Rule, Britannia! and blew kisses to the audience while singing Ruperto Chapí's tongue-twisting comic operetta Las Hijas Del Zebedeo.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2024
Well, “Phantom” was at bottom an operetta too, yet even in an obsolete genre has run on Broadway for 35 years.
From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2023
You have not lived until you’ve heard a Megan Thee Stallion track remixed into an operetta.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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.
