a cappella
adverb or adjective
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A Cappella Has Italian Roots
A cappella arrived in English in the 18th century via the Italian phrase a cappella, meaning "in chapel or choir style." (Medieval Latin capella, meaning "chapel," is the source of English chapel.) The a cappella style reached preeminence in the late 16th century in the music that composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina wrote for the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican. Because no independent instrumental parts were written down, scholars once thought that the choir sang unaccompanied, but current evidence makes clear that an organ or other instruments doubled some or several of the vocal parts. Regardless, today a cappella describes a purely vocal performance.
Examples of a cappella in a Sentence
Shania Russell, EW.com, 8 June 2025
Also, it was very cleverly done in terms of being able to lift a cappella vocals and put the band underneath it.
—Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 28 Mar. 2025
Barbershop choir to sing at library The Music Men Chorus, North County’s barbershop a cappella choir, will perform at 1 p.m. June 4 at the Vista Branch of the San Diego County Library, 700 Eucalyptus Ave.
—Linda McIntosh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 May 2025
Once a globe-trotting touring artist, these days Moore only plays his native island, performing solo — accompanying himself on guitar, bodhran drum or sometimes singing a cappella — while exploring a repertoire of songs that cut across several hundred years of history.
—Bob Mehr, New York Times, 15 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for a cappella
Cite this Entry
“A cappella.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/a%20cappella. Accessed 19 Jun. 2025.
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a cappella
adverb or adjectivefrom Italian a cappella "in chapel style"
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