Madame Butterfly


noun
  1. an opera (1904) by Giacomo Puccini.

  • Also Ma·da·ma But·terfly [muh-dam-uh, ‐dah-muh], /məˈdæm ə, ‐ˈdɑ mə/, Madam Butterfly.

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How to use Madame Butterfly in a sentence

Cultural definitions for Madame Butterfly

Madame Butterfly

An opera by Giacomo Puccini. The title character, a Japanese woman, is betrothed to an American naval officer stationed in Japan. He leaves for the United States, promising to return, but comes back three years later married to an American woman. Butterfly, disgraced, stabs herself; the officer begs her forgiveness, and she dies in his arms.

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.