ballet

Borrowed from French ballet, from Italian balletto (“short dance, ballet”), diminutive form of ballo (“group dance”), from Late Latin ballō (“to dance”).

• (General American) enPR: bă-lāʹ, băʹlā('), IPA^(key): /bælˈeɪ/, /ˈbæl(ˌ)eɪ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbal.eɪ/, /ˈbal.ɪ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /bælˈæɪ/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /bɛlˈæɪ/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /bɐleː/, /bɐlɪː/
• Rhymes: -æleɪ, -æli, -eɪ
• Hyphenation: bal‧let

ballet (countable and uncountable, plural ballets)

2. (dance) A classical form of dance.

   a classically-trained ballet dancer

4. A theatrical presentation of such dancing, usually with music, sometimes in the form of a story.

   Let's go to the ballet in the theatre tomorrow!

5. The company of persons who perform this dance.

   Zara joined the ballet at the age of 14.

6. (music) A light part song, frequently with a fa-la-la chorus, common among Elizabethan and Italian Renaissance composers.
7. (heraldry, uncommon) A (small) ball i.e. roundel on a coat of arms, called a bezant, plate, etc., according to colour.
   • 1741, Richard Izacke, Remarkable Antiquities of the City of Exeter [...] by Richard Izacke [...] Second Edition:

     9. Peter West, Ar. bears sable Ballets argent a Lyon Rampant.

8. (figurative) Any intricate series of operations involving coordination between individuals.
   • 1990, Historic Preservation: Quarterly of the National Council for Historic Sites and Buildings, volumes 42-43:

     Food preparation on a potager no doubt became a kitchen ballet in which pans were constantly shifted, coals constantly replenished, and grates shaken out.

   • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things:

     Henry Payton joined Alan on the sidelines during the conclusion of the oddly delicate ballet known as On-Scene Investigation.

ballet (third-person singular simple present ballets, present participle balleting, simple past and past participle balleted)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To perform an action reminiscent of ballet dancing.
   • 2014 Rutherford's Vascular Surgery E-Book - Page 1340

     Situations that typically require longer iliac limbs than the measurements suggest include extreme iliac tortuosity, “balleting” of the limbs (Endurant and Excluder) (Fig. 90-3), and the need to extend to the external iliac arteries. It these anatomic circumstances, it is prudent to choose a longer length when in doubt.

   • 2016, Jacob Russell Dring, Endless the Chase:

     Unfortunately, he could only sustain so much abuse. Footfalls approached. Kanoa's lips smacked and his jaw hung open. His eyelids fluttered, their underlying gaze balleting without clarity. He felt beyond sick, and his world spun immensely. A garbled voice of incoherency seemed to be his only link to this realm of consciousness.

   • 2017, Num Nums, “A Total Bust a Move”, in The ZhuZhus:

     Frankie's obviously going to ballet her way to the trophy.

• mime
• modern dance

• betall

• IPA^(key): (Central) [bəˈʎɛt]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [bəˈʎət]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [baˈʎet]

ballet m (plural ballets)

1. ballet

• “ballet”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “ballet”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “ballet” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “ballet” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Borrowed from English ballet, from French ballet, from Italian balletto (“short dance, ballet”), diminutive form of ballo (“ball”).

ballet

1. ballet (dance tradition and style)

ballet

1. inflection of ballan:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person plural present indicative
   3. second-person plural present subjunctive
   4. second-person plural imperative

Either from French ballet or directly from Italian balletto, the diminutive form of ballo (“dance, ball”).

• IPA^(key): /balɛt/, [b̥aˈlɛd̥]

ballet c (singular definite balletten, plural indefinite balletter)

1. ballet

• → Greenlandic: balletti

• “ballet” in Den Danske Ordbog

Borrowed from French ballet, from Middle French ballet, from Italian balletto. An instance of spelling pronunciation.

• IPA^(key): /bɑˈlɛt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bal‧let
• Rhymes: -ɛt

ballet n (plural balletten, diminutive balletje n)

1. ballet

• → Indonesian: balèt
• → Papiamentu: balèt

Borrowed from Italian balletto.

• IPA^(key): /ba.lɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

ballet m (plural ballets)

1. ballet

• ballet à ski
• ballet-féerie
• corps de ballet
• maître de ballet

• “ballet”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• Audio:

  (file)

ballet

1. second-person plural subjunctive I of ballen

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈbal.lɛt]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈbal.let̪]

ballet

1. third-person singular present active subjunctive of ballō (“to dance”)

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈpalleh(t)/

ballet

1. inflection of ballat:
   1. third-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person singular past indicative
   3. second-person plural imperative

ballet n

1. definite singular of ball (Etymology 2)

ballet n

1. definite singular of ball (Etymology 2)

• balé (rare)

Unadapted borrowing from French ballet.

• IPA^(key): /baˈle/ [baˈle]
  • Rhymes: -e
• IPA^(key): /baˈlet/ [baˈlet̪]
  • Rhymes: -et

ballet m (countable and uncountable, plural ballets)

1. ballet

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “ballet”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024