overture
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A musical introduction to a longer piece of music or a dramatic work.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ohvercherSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈoʊvɚtʃɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
music
A musical introduction to a longer piece of music or a dramatic work (such as a play, an opera, or a motion picture).
often in plural
An approach or proposal made to initiate communication, establish a relationship etc.
music
Orchestral music played at the beginning of an opera or oratorio
music
A medley of themes from a larger work, such as an opera or musical, typically played at the beginning but sometimes played at any part of the work or performed as a standalone piece.
verb
intransitive
To make overtures; to approach with a proposal.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A musical introduction to a longer piece of music or a dramatic work (such as a play, an opera, or a motion picture).
Used this way, overture is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a musical use: it is everyday language among musicians and listeners, and specialised outside that.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Music/performance
- Arts writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use overture
- “The orchestra played a beautiful overture before the opera truly began.”noun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.