Coloratura
adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Florid or fancy passages in vocal music. uncountable
"The singing is generally excellent, with Simon Keenlyside standing out for his richly vocalized (and amusingly dour) Papageno and Diana Damrau for her spot-on coloratura and genuine venom as the Queen of the Night."
- 2 singing with florid ornamentation wordnet
- 3 A singer of such passages, especially a soprano. countable
"The middle one, of course, was the coloratura Julia Kristeva, known as the most voluptuous Salome in the business."
- 4 a lyric soprano who specializes in coloratura vocal music wordnet
- 1 Pertaining to coloratura.
"She has a lighter and more coloratura voice."
Example
More examples"The singing is generally excellent, with Simon Keenlyside standing out for his richly vocalized (and amusingly dour) Papageno and Diana Damrau for her spot-on coloratura and genuine venom as the Queen of the Night."
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian coloratura, from Late Latin colōrātūra, from colōrāre (“to colour”).
Related phrases
More for "coloratura"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.