Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A classical dance form characterized by grace and precision of movement and by elaborate formal gestures, steps, and poses.
  • noun A theatrical presentation of group or solo dancing to a musical accompaniment, usually with costume and scenic effects, conveying a story or theme.
  • noun A musical composition written or used for this dance form.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The music to which a ballet is danced.
  • noun In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially in England, a light glee-like madrigal or part-song, often with a fa-la burden. See fa-la.
  • noun In the eighteenth century, a series of instrumental dances properly in the same key and usually for stringed instruments; a suite (which see).
  • An obsolete form of ballad.
  • noun A spectacular dance, more or less elaborate in steps, poses, and costumes, in which a number of performers, chiefly females, take part.
  • noun A complete pantomime or theatrical representation, in which a story is told, and actions, characters, and passions are represented, by gestures and grouping, accompanied by characteristic or illustrative music, dancing, and often rich scenery and decorations.
  • noun The corps of dancers who perform ballets.
  • To express by dancing or in a ballet.
  • noun A little ball: in heraldry, a bearing in coats of arms, denominated, according to the color, bezants, plates, hurts, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An artistic dance performed as a theatrical entertainment, or an interlude, by a number of persons, usually women. Sometimes, a scene accompanied by pantomime and dancing.
  • noun The company of persons who perform the ballet.
  • noun (Mus.) A light part song, or madrigal, with a fa la burden or chorus, -- most common with the Elizabethan madrigal composers; -- also spelled ballett.
  • noun (Her.) A bearing in coats of arms, representing one or more balls, which are denominated bezants, plates, etc., according to color.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A classical form of dance.
  • noun A theatrical presentation of such dancing, usually with music, sometimes in the form of a story.
  • noun The company of persons who perform this dance.
  • noun music A light part song, or madrigal, with a fa-la burden or chorus, most common with the Elizabethan madrigal composers.
  • noun heraldry A bearing in coats of arms representing one or more balls, called bezants, plates, etc., according to colour.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun music written for a ballet
  • noun a theatrical representation of a story that is performed to music by trained dancers

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Italian balletto, diminutive of ballo, dance, from ballare, to dance; see ballerina.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French ballet, from Italian balletto ("short dance, ballet"), diminutive form of ballo ("ball").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word ballet.

Examples

  • In O. Fr., according to Rousseau, _ballet_ signifies "to dance, to sing, to rejoice"; and thus it incorporates three distinct modern words, "ballet, ball and ballad."

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 "Baconthorpe" to "Bankruptcy" Various

  • One can imagine a playhouse running on the basis of a big ballet, with a story, popular music, magnificent scenery, gorgeous costumes, huge _corps de ballet_, half-a-dozen principals and immense advertisement.

    Our Stage and Its Critics By "E.F.S." of "The Westminster Gazette" Edward Fordham Spence 1896

  • (And for most Chicagoans, Mr. Emanuel's training in ballet is unlikely to count.)

    Debra Levine: Return to Ballet World for Rahm Emanuel? Debra Levine 2010

  • The surreal depiction of the title ballet is the high point of this film's cinematic ambition, a

    Alibi.com Blog 2010

  • Teeuwissen: During the '70s, what we refer to as the ballet boom, there was a significant amount of subsidy from the government for general operating and touring.

    Truly American Dance 2007

  • This ballet is a tale of romance, courtship, and adulterous encounters amidst the glitz and glamour of the belle époque.

    The Merry Widow at PNB 2005

  • John demonstrates some easy steps and tells me to stand in what I know as ballet's first position.

    News round-up 2009

  • John demonstrates some easy steps and tells me to stand in what I know as ballet's first position.

    News round-up 2009

  • John demonstrates some easy steps and tells me to stand in what I know as ballet's first position.

    News round-up 2009

  • John demonstrates some easy steps and tells me to stand in what I know as ballet's first position.

    News round-up 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • 'bally' is a British pronunciation of extreme quaintness

    December 28, 2009