chorus

[ kawr-uhs, kohr- ]
See synonyms for: choruschorusedchorusingchorusses on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural cho·rus·es.
  1. Music.

    • a group of persons singing in unison.

    • (in an opera, oratorio, etc.) such a group singing choral parts in connection with soloists or individual singers.

    • a piece of music for singing in unison.

    • a part of a song that recurs at intervals, usually following each verse; refrain.

  2. simultaneous utterance in singing, speaking, shouting, etc.

  1. the sounds so uttered: a chorus of jeers.

  2. (in a musical show)

    • a company of dancers and singers.

    • the singing, dancing, or songs performed by such a company.

  3. (in ancient Greece)

    • a lyric poem, believed to have been in dithyrambic form, that was sung and danced to, originally as a religious rite, by a company of persons.

    • an ode or series of odes sung by a group of actors in ancient Greek drama.

    • the group of actors that performed the chorus and served as major participants in, commentators on, or as a supplement to the main action of the drama.

  4. Theater.

    • a group of actors or a single actor having a function similar to that of the Greek chorus, as in Elizabethan drama.

    • the part of a play performed by such a group or individual.

verb (used with or without object),cho·rused, cho·rus·ing.
  1. to sing or speak in chorus.

Idioms about chorus

  1. in chorus, in unison; with all speaking or singing simultaneously: They responded in chorus to the minister's questions.

Origin of chorus

1
1555–65; <Latin <Greek chorós a dance, band of dancers and singers

Words Nearby chorus

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

How to use chorus in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for chorus

chorus

/ (ˈkɔːrəs) /


nounplural -ruses
  1. a large choir of singers or a piece of music composed for such a choir

  2. a body of singers or dancers who perform together, in contrast to principals or soloists

  1. a section of a song in which a soloist is joined by a group of singers, esp in a recurring refrain

  2. an intermediate section of a pop song, blues, etc, as distinct from the verse

  3. jazz any of a series of variations on a theme

  4. (in ancient Greece)

    • a lyric poem sung by a group of dancers, originally as a religious rite

    • an ode or series of odes sung by a group of actors

    • (in classical Greek drama) the actors who sang the chorus and commented on the action of the play

    • actors playing a similar role in any drama

    • (esp in Elizabethan drama) the actor who spoke the prologue, etc

    • the part of the play spoken by this actor

  5. a group of people or animals producing words or sounds simultaneously

  6. any speech, song, or other utterance produced by a group of people or animals simultaneously: a chorus of sighs; the dawn chorus

  7. in chorus in unison

verb
  1. to speak, sing, or utter (words, etc) in unison

Origin of chorus

1
C16: from Latin, from Greek khoros

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with chorus

chorus

see in chorus.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.