ballet
-
a classical dance form demanding grace and precision and employing formalized steps and gestures set in intricate, flowing patterns to create expression through movement.
-
a theatrical entertainment in which ballet dancing and music, often with scenery and costumes, combine to tell a story, establish an emotional atmosphere, etc.
-
an interlude of ballet in an operatic performance.
-
a company of ballet dancers.
-
the musical score for a ballet: the brilliant ballets of Tchaikovsky.
-
a dance or balletlike performance: an ice-skating ballet.
Origin of ballet
1Other words from ballet
- bal·let·ic [ba-let-ik, buh-], /bæˈlɛt ɪk, bə-/, adjective
- bal·let·i·cal·ly, adverb
Words that may be confused with ballet
Words Nearby ballet
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use ballet in a sentence
If you know you’re never going to record a ballet class, for example, delete that option if you can.
Best fitness tracker: Hit your health goals and sleep better with these picks | PopSci Commerce Team | January 27, 2021 | Popular-ScienceIf I had gotten into the Royal ballet School, I would have gone to ballet school and become a ballet dancer.
The BBC’s Katty Kay Shuts Down Men Who ‘Tell Me to Shut Up’ | Eugene Robinson | January 23, 2021 | OzySo 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.
Freed from the pre-pandemic rush, my teen rediscovered a beloved hobby — and so did I | Kristen Chase | January 12, 2021 | Washington PostIn 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.
‘Calvin and Hobbes’ said goodbye 25 years ago. Here’s why Bill Watterson’s masterwork enchants us still. | Michael Cavna | December 31, 2020 | Washington PostSo 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.
A time to splurge or a time to scrape by: Holidays expose widening disparity among U.S. families | Abha Bhattarai | December 17, 2020 | Washington Post
Monir is not interested in classic dances like tango or ballet.
Iran’s Becoming a Footloose Nation as Dance Lessons Spread | IranWire | January 2, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTWhen I studied in London back in 2005, I actually saw the ballet, too.
Tim Burton Talks ‘Big Eyes,’ His Taste For the Macabre, and the ‘Beetlejuice’ Sequel | Marlow Stern | December 17, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut she was forced to drop it at 11 to focus all her energy on ballet.
The Making of Kiesza: From Navy Sharpshooter to Beauty Queen to Pop Diva | Marlow Stern | October 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut 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.
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun; | VariousI have foolishly undertaken to write music for a ballet Cinderella, at a very small fee.
The Life & Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky | Modeste TchaikovskyIn their youth both had been enthusiastic admirers of the ballet, and had often tried to imitate the art of the dancers.
The Life & Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky | Modeste TchaikovskyShe remained alone until the curtain fell upon the first act of the ballet.
The Double Four | E. Phillips OppenheimThey 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.
The Double Four | E. Phillips Oppenheim
British Dictionary definitions for ballet
/ (ˈbæleɪ, bæˈleɪ) /
-
-
a classical style of expressive dancing based on precise conventional steps with gestures and movements of grace and fluidity
-
(as modifier): ballet dancer
-
-
a theatrical representation of a story or theme performed to music by ballet dancers
-
a troupe of ballet dancers
-
a piece of music written for a ballet
Origin of ballet
1Derived forms of ballet
- balletic (bæˈlɛtɪk), adjective
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 ballet
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 Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Two great modern ballets are The Rite of Spring, composed by Igor Stravinsky, and Fancy Free, by Leonard Bernstein.
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.
Browse