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View synonyms for ballet

ballet

[ ba-ley, bal-ey ]

noun

  1. a classical dance form demanding grace and precision and employing formalized steps and gestures set in intricate, flowing patterns to create expression through movement.
  2. a theatrical entertainment in which ballet dancing and music, often with scenery and costumes, combine to tell a story, establish an emotional atmosphere, etc.
  3. an interlude of ballet in an operatic performance.
  4. a company of ballet dancers.
  5. the musical score for a ballet:

    the brilliant ballets of Tchaikovsky.

  6. a dance or balletlike performance:

    an ice-skating ballet.



ballet

/ bæˈlɛtɪk; ˈbæleɪ; bæˈleɪ /

noun

    1. a classical style of expressive dancing based on precise conventional steps with gestures and movements of grace and fluidity
    2. ( as modifier )

      ballet dancer

  1. a theatrical representation of a story or theme performed to music by ballet dancers
  2. a troupe of ballet dancers
  3. a piece of music written for a ballet


ballet

  1. Theatrical entertainment in which dancers, usually accompanied by music, tell a story or express a mood through their movements. The technique of ballet is elaborate and requires many years of training. Two classical ballets are and , composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky . Two great modern ballets are The Rite of Spring , composed by Igor Stravinsky , and Fancy Free , by Leonard Bernstein .


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Derived Forms

  • balletic, adjective

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Other Words From

  • bal·let·ic [ba-, let, -ik, b, uh, -], adjective
  • bal·leti·cal·ly adverb

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Word History and Origins

Origin of ballet1

1660–70; < French, Middle French < Italian balletto, equivalent to ball ( o ) ball 2 + -etto -et

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Word History and Origins

Origin of ballet1

C17: from French, from Italian balletto literally: a little dance, from ballare to dance; see ball ²

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Example Sentences

If you know you’re never going to record a ballet class, for example, delete that option if you can.

If I had gotten into the Royal Ballet School, I would have gone to ballet school and become a ballet dancer.

From Ozy

So I’ve decided to spend an hour a week of my time in a local ballet studio, in a mask, plie-ing and pirouetting, or at least trying.

In one day’s strip, Calvin and Hobbes might engage in, say, a ballet of physical comedy — the stretch and squash effects rendering the strip as near to animation as a static art form can.

So many things have already been taken from them — school, their friends, ballet recitals, taekwondo — that, honestly, I just want to wake up on Christmas morning and see their eyes light up.

Monir is not interested in classic dances like tango or ballet.

When I studied in London back in 2005, I actually saw the ballet, too.

But she was forced to drop it at 11 to focus all her energy on ballet.

But the New York City Ballet seems to have found the answer: Valentino.

Yet few have done so with as much fanfare, star power, and consistency as the New York City Ballet.

Two unsophisticated country lasses visited Niblo's in New York during the ballet season.

I have foolishly undertaken to write music for a ballet Cinderella, at a very small fee.

In their youth both had been enthusiastic admirers of the ballet, and had often tried to imitate the art of the dancers.

She remained alone until the curtain fell upon the first act of the ballet.

They carried him away without any fuss, and Peter was just in time, after all, to see the finish of the second act of the ballet.

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