Dictionary.com

Popular Searches

 Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

aria

1 American  
[ahr-ee-uh, air-ee-uh] / ˈɑr i ə, ˈɛər i ə /

noun

  1. an air or melody.

  2. an elaborate melody sung solo with accompaniment, as in an opera or oratorio.

Aria 2 American  
[ahr-ee-uh, uh-rahy-uh] / ˈɑr i ə, əˈraɪ ə /

noun

Classical Mythology.

  1. a nymph, the mother of Miletus, by Apollo.

-aria 3 American  

  1. a suffix occurring in scientific terms of Latin origin, especially in names of biological genera and groups.

    filaria.
aria British  
/ ˈɑːrɪə /

noun

  1. an elaborate accompanied song for solo voice from a cantata, opera, or oratorio See also da capo

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
aria Cultural  

  1. A piece of music for one voice (or occasionally two voices) in an opera, oratorio, or cantata. In contrast with recitative singing, arias are melodious; in contrast with ordinary songs, arias are usually elaborate.

Discover More

Some composers, such as Richard Wagner, have felt that arias interrupt the action of opera too much and hence have written operas without them.

Etymology

Origin of aria1

From Italian, dating back to 1735–45; air 1

Origin of -aria3

< Latin: feminine singular or neuter plural of -ārius -ary

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.

Yvonne Russo’s documentary “Viva Verdi!” captures the vibrant life inside its walls, expressed in the aria “Sweet Dreams of Joy,” sung by soprano Ana María Martínez and composed by Nicholas Pike.

From Los Angeles Times

The entire cycle converges in her final 20 minute-long aria, a task that demands the endurance of a cross-country skier and the precision of a sharpshooting biathlete.

From The Wall Street Journal

She takes all the repeats, which makes it one of the longest arias in the Baroque literature.

From The Wall Street Journal

Not everyone was happy with the last minute arrangement however, with some members of the audience reportedly booing when the opera's famous aria -- Nessun dorma -- was omitted.

From Barron's

Additional Vivaldi arias and ensembles are deftly interpolated among the scrambled “Seasons” movements, their words a combination of Ms. Ruhl’s new English texts and the original Italian and Latin.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.