ballerina

[ bal-uh-ree-nuh ]
See synonyms for ballerina on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a principal female dancer in a ballet company.: Compare prima ballerina.

  2. any female ballet dancer.

  1. a woman's very low-heeled or heelless shoe or slipper, made to resemble a ballet slipper.

Origin of ballerina

1
1785–95; <Italian, feminine of ballerino professional dancer, probably equivalent to baller(ia) dance (ball(are) to dance (<Late Latin; see ball2) + -eria<Old French; see -ery) + -ino-ine1

Words Nearby ballerina

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use ballerina in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for ballerina

ballerina

/ (ˌbæləˈriːnə) /


noun
  1. a female ballet dancer

  2. US the principal female dancer of a ballet company

Origin of ballerina

1
C18: from Italian, feminine of ballerino dancing master, from ballare to dance, from Late Latin ballāre : see ball ²

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for ballerina

ballerina

In ballet, a female dancer. (See prima ballerina.)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.