coloratura

• colorature

Borrowed from Italian coloratura, from Late Latin colōrātūra, from colōrāre (“to colour”).

• IPA^(key): /kɒləɹəˈtjʊɹə/
• Rhymes: -ʊəɹə

coloratura (countable and uncountable, plural coloraturas)

1. (uncountable) Florid or fancy passages in vocal music.
   • 2004, The Video Librarian, volume 19, page 71:

     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. (countable) A singer of such passages, especially a soprano.
   • 1980, Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers:

     The middle one, of course, was the coloratura Julia Kristeva, known as the most voluptuous Salome in the business.

coloratura (comparative more coloratura, superlative most coloratura)

1. Pertaining to coloratura.

   She has a lighter and more coloratura voice.

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     I drew a deep breath, this time fortunately unmixed with gin and tonic. I was profoundly stirred. “You mean,” I said, my voice quavering like that of a coloratura soprano, “that I went through that soul-shattering experience all for nothing?”

From colorare +‎ -tura.

coloratura f (plural colorature)

1. colouration/coloration, colouring/coloring
2. (music) virtuosic ornamentation of a melody

colōrātūra

1. inflection of colōrātūrus:
   1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

colōrātūrā

1. ablative feminine singular of colōrātūrus

Borrowed from Italian coloratura.

• IPA^(key): /koloɾaˈtuɾa/ [ko.lo.ɾaˈt̪u.ɾa]
• Rhymes: -uɾa
• Syllabification: co‧lo‧ra‧tu‧ra

coloratura f (plural coloraturas)

1. (music) coloratura

• “coloratura”, 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