rialto
noun
an exchange or mart.
rialto
1 American
[ree-al-toh]
/ riˈæl toʊ /
noun
rialtos
plural
Rialto
2
American
[ree-al-toh, r ee-ahl-taw]
/ riˈæl toʊ, riˈɑl tɔ /
noun
-
a commercial center in Venice, Italy, consisting of an island and the surrounding district.
-
a bridge spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy: constructed of marble in 1590.
-
a city in SW California, near Los Angeles.
-
the theater district of a city or town, especially the area around Broadway in New York City.
Rialto
1
British
/ rɪˈæltəʊ /
noun
rialto
2
British
/ rɪˈæltəʊ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of rialto
1590–1660; after the Rialto in Venice
Explanation
A rialto is a market, or anywhere that people gather in public. But you’ll nearly always find the word capitalized as part of a name for a plaza, square, theater, theater district, or commercial center. The original Rialto is the commercial center of Venice, Italy, which has had that name for centuries; the famous Rialto Bridge over Venice's Grand Canal, built in 1590, is named after it. The name Rialto is a contraction of Italian rivoalto, or "high bank," referring to an area on the left bank of the river that eventually became the Grand Canal. This area evolved into Venice’s commercial center, with markets, shops, and banks. Now, many things are named Rialto to lend them a glamorous or exotic air.
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:
But barring that, it’s hard to see how the rialto avoids dimming its lights once again.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 20, 2021
This was not a rialto over Monet’s lily pads.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 6, 2020
Lahr, the former drama critic for the New Yorker, occasional playwright and biographer of Joe Orton and other "theatricals," knows his way around the rialto.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2014
Though the vaudeville houses are gone, there are buildings redolent of the Bowery as an entertainment rialto, including the shuttered Amato Opera and the defunct Bouwerie Lane Theater and punk-rock club CBGB.
From New York Times ● Oct. 10, 2011
Sing you, in your clear contralto, Songs I write for the rialto.
From Something Else Again by Adams, Franklin P. (Franklin Pierce)
Representatives from the Rialto Unified School District didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2025
Rialto is off to a 3-0 start with wins over Ontario, Temecula Prep and Indio.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2025
Hundreds marched through the city on Saturday evening, hanging a "no space for Bezos" banner from the Rialto bridge and setting off multicoloured flares.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2025
On Thursday the collective unfurled banners against Bezos from the bell tower of the San Giorgio Maggiore basilica and the Rialto Bridge.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2025
I just dragged them all the way from the Rialto market.
From "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke
Between jokes, he draws on a fat little glossary of verbal rialtos that counterpoint the laughter, indicate his attitude to the material.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
