How to Use contralto in a Sentence
contralto
noun-
The quiet storm of Sade’s contralto fills the room—a sign that Kris Jenner has, at least for the moment, control of the playlist.
—Jonathan Van Meter, WSJ, 23 Mar. 2021
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At 42, the contralto opera singer had performed to acclaim throughout the United States and Europe.
—Jackie Mansky, Smithsonian, 11 Oct. 2017
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Which leads to the following question: What actress can nail Holmes’s contralto and Steve Jobs cosplay?
—Chris Murphy, Vulture, 18 Feb. 2021
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Roberts's contralto voice grounds a Lina set adrift in a confusing universe of puppets and apparitions.
—Irene Hsiao, Chicago Reader, 30 May 2018
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Apple, with her singular smoky contralto, modelled the complex emotions of the line for Amber, warming her up to record.
—Mick Stevens, The New Yorker, 12 Aug. 2021
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Singing soulfully but very quietly at first, her rich contralto builds in perfect sync with the stately tempo.
—Bill Adler, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Dec. 2021
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Ms. Amereau is herself something of a welcome throwback at a time when countertenors have all but displaced contraltos in early music.
—James R. Oestreich, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2017
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Her movements still retain the fluid lines of a dancer, and her voice has matured into a craggy contralto that penetrates the audio haze of a busy bar, but never farther than a few feet.
—Jonathan Kauffman, San Francisco Chronicle, 1 Nov. 2017
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Joe, for example, is described as heavily breathing, and so the sound of breath became a jumping-off point for my use of woodwind instruments like the contralto clarinet and the flute.
—Paige Hymson, latimes.com, 25 June 2019
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Milosh, who formed Rhye with producer Robin Hannibal but now works it as a solo project, is best known for his breathy, androgynous contralto.
—Randall Roberts, latimes.com, 5 June 2019
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Vocally, the range of Frida goes from extremely low, contralto-land to soprano-land.
—Janelle Gelfand, Cincinnati.com, 22 June 2017
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Sierra is a mezzo-soprano or mezzo, which is a type of classical female singing voice with a vocal range that lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types.
—Chuck Fieldman, chicagotribune.com, 14 June 2021
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Doris Day was the model of femininity, not a woman with long black hair, a big nose and an androgynous, almost manly contralto voice.
—Rob Tannenbaum, Billboard, 18 May 2017
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Odetta was the secret-agent contralto, amplifying a history of pain others were using for sing-alongs.
—Sasha Frere-Jones, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2022
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Survivors include his daughter, contralto Sonya Alexandra Knussen of Baltimore; a brother; and a sister.
—Harrison Smith, Washington Post, 12 July 2018
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Cuervo’s monologues were delivered in a dusky contralto.
—Janelle Gelfand, Cincinnati.com, 24 June 2017
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Caroline Unger, the contralto at the premiere, gets credit for turning the deaf Beethoven toward the wildly applauding audience, which gave five standing ovations.
—Lawrence Toppman, charlotteobserver, 21 Sep. 2017
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Melina Jaharis brought a rich contralto to Ma Moss, Laurie's widowed mother, who lives an unrealized life through her daughters.
—John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 23 May 2017
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From Natalie’s powerful contralto to the lush orchestrations to the ethereal piano, this is a work of consummate songcraft.
—Daniel De Visé, SPIN, 13 Sep. 2022
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Handel wanted the villain Polinesso to be a second castrato, but none was available, so a contralto created the part.
—Christian Hertzog, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Aug. 2022
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Meredith Arwady unleashes her huge contralto as the comic babushka Amelfa.
—John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 8 Aug. 2017
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Because Batton is a mezzo-soprano and contralto, her roles aren’t limited to younger character roles.
—Elizabeth Kramer, The Courier-Journal, 6 Sep. 2017
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The two characters are each embodied by two onstage singers (the woman by a soprano and a contralto, and the man by a baritone and a countertenor), as well as by prerecorded alto and tenor parts and an offstage chorus of sixteen voices.
—Matthew Aucoin, The New York Review of Books, 7 Dec. 2019
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Even at the height of her fame, African-American contralto singer Marian Anderson encountered barriers erected solely because of the color of her skin.
—Alicia Ault, Smithsonian, 9 Apr. 2014
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In this documentary, director Rita Coburn salutes the famed contralto and international star who broke through racial barriers and became an icon in the civil rights movement.
—Craig D Lindsey, Chron, 11 Nov. 2022
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By all reports, her wide-ranging contralto possessed the kind of resonant halo that technology is helpless to reproduce.
—Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2021
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Bullock's voice is deeply rich and richly deep, with both the qualities of Anderson's expressive contralto and Price's electrifying climaxes.
—Mark Swed, latimes.com, 5 Apr. 2018
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The singer-songwriter’s distinctive contralto voice is still intact — these days sounding deeper, grittier.
—Michael James Rocha, sandiegouniontribune.com, 19 July 2017
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Avery Amereau was a party-girl Olga; although billed as a contralto, her timbre was paradoxically brighter than Jakubiak’s soprano.
—Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 11 Aug. 2021
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The snare drum death march and the psychedelic Jefferson Airplane-like flourishes seem to accentuate Dylan’s vitriolic, unforgiving words in a silly way, but Cher’s steadfast contralto grounds the affair.
—Jessi Roti, chicagotribune.com, 24 May 2018
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'contralto.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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