balletomane

1 9.9

A person who loves watching ballet

noun
/ˌbælɛtəˈmeɪn/

Jargon

: balletómano

But you could sense something more, some other motive for his behavior, that lay beyond the arcane world of balletomanes.

Examples

With American ballet company directors and boards lamenting the low status of ballet in the minds of the general public, I wonder what would happen if our ballet companies offered more options during the holiday season—the one time of year when both balletomanes and new patrons spend money to see shows.

Blog text (16)
As a devoted balletomane, she never misses a performance at the Royal Opera House.
During the annual ballet gala, all balletomanes gather to celebrate their love for dance.
His passion for ballet was evident; he considered himself a true balletomane who studied every performance.

Antonyms

detractor

32 7.1

A person who says bad things about someone or something to make them seem less good

Surface Forms

balletomane singular

balletomanes plural

Morphology

balletomane = ballet (semi-transparent) = ballet + omane

The component 'ballet' is obvious, but the suffix '-omane' is a borrowed, non‑productive element meaning 'enthusiast', which may not be familiar to B1 learners.

Etymology

Balletomane comes from French, joining ballet and a part like mania that means 'madness' or 'craze'. So a balletomane is someone 'crazy about' ballet, which explains why the word means an enthusiastic fan.