OPUS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does opus mean? 

• OPUS (noun)
  The noun OPUS has 1 sense:

1. a musical work that has been created

  Familiarity information: OPUS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OPUS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A musical work that has been created

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

composition; musical composition; opus; piece; piece of music

Context example:

the composition is written in four movements

Hypernyms ("opus" is a kind of...):

music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)

Meronyms (parts of "opus"):

coda; finale (the closing section of a musical composition)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "opus"):

symphonic poem; tone poem (an orchestral composition based on literature or folk tales)

etude (a short composition for a solo instrument; intended as an exercise or to demonstrate technical virtuosity)

idyl; idyll; pastoral; pastorale (a musical composition that evokes rural life)

toccata (a baroque musical composition (usually for a keyboard instrument) with full chords and rapid elaborate runs in a rhythmically free style)

fantasia (a musical composition of a free form usually incorporating several familiar themes)

musical passage; passage (a short section of a musical composition)

movement (a major self-contained part of a symphony or sonata)

largo ((music) a composition or passage that is to be performed in a slow and dignified manner)

larghetto ((music) a composition or passage played in a slow tempo slightly faster than largo but slower than adagio)

suite (a musical composition of several movements only loosely connected)

canon (a contrapuntal piece of music in which a melody in one part is imitated exactly in other parts)

medley; pastiche; potpourri (a musical composition consisting of a series of songs or other musical pieces from various sources)

nocturne; notturno (a pensive lyrical piece of music (especially for the piano))

adagio ((music) a composition played in adagio tempo (slowly and gracefully))

song; vocal (a short musical composition with words)

study (a composition intended to develop one aspect of the performer's technique)

capriccio (an instrumental composition that doesn't adhere to rules for any specific musical form and is played with improvisation)

motet (an unaccompanied choral composition with sacred lyrics; intended to be sung as part of a church service; originated in the 13th century)

program music; programme music (musical compositions intended to evoke images or remind the listener of events)

incidental music (music composed to accompany the action of a drama or to fill intervals between scenes)

duet; duette; duo (a musical composition for two performers)

sheet music (a musical composition in printed or written form)

arrangement; musical arrangement (a piece of music that has been adapted for performance by a particular set of voices or instruments)

realisation; realization (a musical composition that has been completed or enriched by someone other than the composer)

intermezzo (a short piece of instrumental music composed for performance between acts of a drama or opera)

allegro (a musical composition or musical passage to be performed quickly in a brisk lively manner)

allegretto (a musical composition or musical passage to be performed at a somewhat quicker tempo than andante but not as fast as allegro)

andante (a musical composition or musical passage to be performed moderately slow)

introit (a composition of vocal music that is appropriate for opening church services)

solo (a musical composition for one voice or instrument (with or without accompaniment))

morceau (a short literary or musical composition)

trio (a musical composition for three performers)

quartet; quartette (a musical composition for four performers)

quintet; quintette (a musical composition for five performers)

sestet; sextet; sextette (a musical composition written for six performers)

septet; septette (a musical composition written for seven performers)

octet; octette (a musical composition written for eight performers)

bagatelle (a light piece of music for piano)

divertimento; serenade (a musical composition in several movements; has no fixed form)

 Context examples 

In music she thought him unreasonable, and in the matter of opera not only unreasonable but wilfully perverse.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“I came out to inquire whether Annie would like to go to the opera tonight,” said Mr. Maldon, turning to her.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But she would have consented if he had proposed to sing a whole opera, and warbled away, blissfully regardless of time and tune.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Exactly, Watson. Here is the fruit of my leisured ease, the magnum opus of my latter years!

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An opera hat was pushed to the back of his head, and an evening dress shirt-front gleamed out through his open overcoat.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But yet we see around us every day the growth of new beliefs, which think themselves new; and which are yet but the old, which pretend to be young—like the fine ladies at the opera.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

She went to it; but the music on which her eye first rested was an opera, procured for her by Willoughby, containing some of their favourite duets, and bearing on its outward leaf her own name in his hand-writing.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Descending from her chair, she came and placed herself on my knee; then, folding her little hands demurely before her, shaking back her curls and lifting her eyes to the ceiling, she commenced singing a song from some opera.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

To see him walking like a comic opera Sultan, with this badge of authority in his hand, his black beard bristling in front of him, his toes pointing at each step, and a train of wide-eyed Indian girls behind him, clad in their slender drapery of bark cloth, is one of the most grotesque of all the pictures which I will carry back with me.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"How did you like it?" she asked him one night, on the way home from the opera.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)