Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Melba

Melba

8 8.7
The stage name of an Australian opera singer famous for her voice
  • proper noun
  • /ˈmɛlbə/
translation icon : Melba

Examples

  • Oh, Aunt Melba, that sure is cold.

    Cooley High (1975)

  • Melba: Sometimes I think we should just go back to our old schools.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Yet since Melba was a shopkeeper now, it became a question of class.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • While we watched, the rest of the group continued north, but Saida and Melba remained.

    Academic text (1992)

  • One night during the vacation, Melba Patillo's mother gets an unexpected call from back home in Little Rock.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Don't Cry, written by Melba Pattillo Beals, one of the Little Rock Nine.

    Academic text (2006)

  • Front row from left: Thelma Mothershed, Elizabeth Eckford, and Melba Patillo.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Dame Nellie Melba was celebrated for her exceptional performances in opera worldwide.

  • The name Melba is synonymous with vocal excellence in the world of classical music.

  • Audiences flocked to see Melba perform, recognizing her as a pioneering operatic soprano.

Synonyms

Dame Nellie Melba
vsMelba
9.9

An Australian opera singer famous around the world in the late 1800s and early 1900s

is the stage name used professionally for that same opera singer

Compounds

Melba toast
1 4.8

Very thin crisp slices of toasted bread served with soup or toppings

peach melba
1 3.0

A dessert of ice cream and peaches with raspberry sauce

Surface Forms

Melba main

Etymology

Melba is the stage name of the famous singer Dame Nellie Melba and comes from her home city Melbourne as a short form of that place name. Because she was so well known, the name Melba was later used for things linked to her, like the dessert Peach Melba, which is why the word now refers first to the singer and then to items named after her.