Standard Lemma guide

cantata

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /kənˈtɑːtə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɑːtə
  • CMU ARPABET: K AE2 N T AA1 T AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A vocal composition accompanied by instruments and generally containing more than one movement, typical of 17th and 18th century Italian music.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a musical composition for voices and orchestra based on a religious text

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: oratorio

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: classical music, classical, serious music

Narrower terms: Messiah

History

Etymology

From Italian cantata. Doublet of chanty.

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: kantate — cantata
  • Armenian: կանտատա (kantata) — cantata
  • Catalan: cantata — cantata
  • Chinese Mandarin: 康塔塔 (kāngtǎtǎ) — cantata
  • Chinese Mandarin: 清唱套曲 (qīngchàng tàoqǔ) — cantata
  • Dutch: cantate — cantata
  • Esperanto: kantato — cantata
  • Estonian: kantaat — cantata
  • Finnish: kantaatti — cantata
  • French: cantate — cantata
  • German: Kantate — cantata
  • Hungarian: kantáta — cantata
  • Ido: kantato — cantata
  • Irish: cantáid — cantata
  • Japanese: カンタータ (kantāta) — cantata
  • Japanese: 交声曲 (kōseikyoku) — cantata
  • Latvian: kantāte — cantata
  • Macedonian: канта́та (kantáta) — cantata
  • Polish: kantata — cantata
  • Portuguese: cantata — cantata
  • Romanian: cantată — cantata
  • Russian: канта́та (kantáta) — cantata
  • Spanish: cantata — cantata
  • Swedish: kantat — cantata
  • Turkish: kantat — cantata
Real reading context

cantata in complete knowledge articles