opera

The word “opera” means a theatrical work in which the story is told mainly through singing, with orchestral music. In plain terms, a staged musical drama that is sung rather than spoken, or the venue where such shows happen.

“Opera” is pronounced OP-uh-ruh (/ˈɑp.ə.ɹə/ in IPA).

Here is “opera” used in a sentence: “They saw a production of "La Bohème" at the opera.”

“Opera” is a noun.

The word “opera” comes from Italian. Borrowed from Italian opera, literally "work" — the same root that gives us "opus" and "operate.".

“Opera” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

“Opera” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a theatrical work in which the story is told mainly through singing, with orchestral music.

In an opera the story is told mainly through singing accompanied by orchestral music, so the singing carries almost the entire drama. A musical typically mixes spoken dialogue with songs, whereas opera relies far more heavily on continuous sung performance.

Opera can mean either. It usually refers to the theatrical work told through singing, but it can also name the building where such performances are staged, also called an opera house.

The everyday plural is operas, used for more than one operatic work. The Italian-derived form opere also exists in specialist musical contexts, but operas is standard in ordinary English.