coloratura

noun

col·​or·​a·​tu·​ra ˌkə-lə-rə-ˈtu̇r-ə How to pronounce coloratura (audio)
-ˈtyu̇r-
often attributive
1
: elaborate embellishment in vocal music
broadly : music with ornate figuration
2
: a soprano with a light agile voice specializing in coloratura

Examples of coloratura in a Sentence

a performance without much coloratura
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
She is gifted with a lovely color of a lyric soprano suitable for roles in the spectrum from a lyric, lyric coloratura to a soubrette. — Heide Janssen, Orange County Register, 16 Mar. 2025 Born in Portland, Maine, to Lucille Potter Lavin, who was once a coloratura soprano opera singer onstage and on the radio, Lavin first took the stage at the age of 5. — Carmel Dagan, Variety, 30 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from 17th-century Italian, "coloring," from Latin colōrātus, past participle of colōrāre "to color entry 2" + Italian -ura -ure

Note: Though conventionally attributed to Italian in German dictionaries since the 17th century, the word apparently first appears in a musical sense in German (as Coloraturen, given as a synonym of Latin Diminutiones "diminutions," in Michael Praetorius, Syntagmatis musici tomus tertius, Wolfenbüttel, 1619, p. 232).

First Known Use

circa 1740, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of coloratura was circa 1740

Rhymes for coloratura

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Cite this Entry

“Coloratura.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coloratura. Accessed 26 Mar. 2025.

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