SOPRANO (soprani)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: soprani   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does soprano mean? 

• SOPRANO (noun)
  The noun SOPRANO has 3 senses:

1. a female singer

2. the highest female voice; the voice of a boy before puberty

3. the pitch range of the highest female voice

  Familiarity information: SOPRANO used as a noun is uncommon.

• SOPRANO (adjective)
  The adjective SOPRANO has 1 sense:

1. having or denoting a high range

  Familiarity information: SOPRANO used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SOPRANO (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A female singer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

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

singer; vocaliser; vocalist; vocalizer (a person who sings)

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

coloratura; coloratura soprano (a lyric soprano who specializes in coloratura vocal music)

mezzo; mezzo-soprano (a soprano with a voice between soprano and contralto)

Instance hyponyms:

Eileen Farrell; Farrell (United States operatic soprano noted for the clarity and power of her voice (1920-2002))

Jenny Lind; Lind; Swedish Nightingale (Swedish soprano who toured the United States under the management of P. T. Barnum (1820-1887))

Brigit Nilsson; Marta Brigit Nilsson; Nilsson (Swedish operatic soprano who played Wagnerian roles (born in 1918))

Jessye Norman; Norman (United States operatic soprano (born in 1945))

Ponselle; Rosa Melba Ponselle; Rosa Ponselle (United States soprano (1897-1981))

Leontyne Price; Mary Leontyne Price; Price (United States operatic soprano (born 1927))

Belle Miriam Silverman; Beverly Sills; Sills (United States operatic soprano (born in 1929))

Dame Joan Sutherland; Joan Sutherland; Sutherland (Australian operatic soprano (born in 1926))

Renata Tebaldi; Tebaldi (Italian operatic soprano (born in 1922))

Dame Kiri Janette Te Kanawa; Dame Kiri Te Kanawa; Te Kanawa (New Zealand operatic soprano (born in 1944))

Helen Traubel; Traubel (United States operatic soprano (1903-1972))

Sense 2

Meaning:

The highest female voice; the voice of a boy before puberty

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

singing voice (the musical quality of the voice while singing)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The pitch range of the highest female voice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

soprano; treble

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

pitch (the property of sound that varies with variation in the frequency of vibration)

• SOPRANO (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having or denoting a high range

Synonyms:

soprano; treble

Context example:

the treble clef

Similar:

high; high-pitched (used of sounds and voices; high in pitch or frequency)

 Context examples 

It was too wholly her, and he sat always amazed at the divine melody of her pure soprano voice.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Whenever there was a pause in the song she filled it with gasping broken sobs and then took up the lyric again in a quavering soprano.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)