About The Word Overture

Bay Area Crosswords

Learn about the word Overture to help solve your crossword puzzle. Discover Overture definitions and meaning, origins, synonyms, related terms and more at the free Crossword Dictionary.

Overture

Overture Meaning & Definition
Overture Definition And Meaning

What's The Definition Of Overture?

[n] orchestral music played at the beginning of an opera or oratorio
[n] a tentative suggestion designed to elicit the reactions of others; "she rejected his advances"
[n] something that serves as a preceding event or introduces what follows; "training is a necessary preliminary to employment"; "drinks were the overture to dinner"

Synonyms | Synonyms for Overture: advance | approach | feeler | preliminary | prelude

Related Terms | Find terms related to Overture: advance | approach | asking price | avant-propos | bid | breakthrough | concert overture | curtain raiser | descant | dramatic overture | exordium | feeler | foreword | front matter | frontispiece | innovation | introduction | invitation | leap | offer | offering | operatic overture | overtures | postulate | preamble | preface | prefix | prefixture | preliminary | preliminary approach | prelude | premise | presentation | presupposition | proem | proffer | prolegomena | prolegomenon | prolepsis | prologue | proposal | proposition | protasis | submission | tender | tentative approach | vamp | verse | voluntary | Vorspiel

See Also | inception | music | origin | origination | proffer | proposition | suggestion

Overture In Webster's Dictionary

\O"ver*ture\, [OF. overture, F. ouverture, fr. OF. ovrir, F. ouvrir. See {Overt}.] 1. An opening or aperture; a recess; a recess; a chamber. [Obs.] --Spenser. ``The cave's inmost overture.'' --Chapman. 2. Disclosure; discovery; revelation. [Obs.] It was he That made the overture of thy treasons to us. --Shak. 3. A proposal; an offer; a proposition formally submitted for consideration, acceptance, or rejection. ``The great overture of the gospel.'' --Barrow. 4. (Mus.) A composition, for a full orchestra, designed as an introduction to an oratorio, opera, or ballet, or as an independent piece; -- called in the latter case a {concert overture}.
\O"ver*ture\, v. t. To make an overture to; as, to overture a religious body on some subject.

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