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
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List 7
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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.
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 rock band Queen were the star guests at the Last Night of the Proms, giving their first ever symphonic performance of their rock operetta, Bohemian Rhapsody.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2025
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
They were all outfitted with showy uniforms that looked like costumes from an operetta, but he was unable to make them wear shoes, because they were accustomed to going barefoot and could not adjust.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
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.
