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English borrowed impresario directly from Italian, whose noun impresa means "undertaking." A close relative is the English word emprise ("an adventurous, daring, or chivalric enterprise"), which, like impresario, traces back to the Latin verb prehendere, meaning "to seize." (That verb is also the source of apprehend, comprehend, and prehensile.) English speakers were impressed enough with impresario to borrow it in the 1700s, at first using it, as the Italians did, especially of opera company managers. It should be noted that, despite their apparent similarities, impress and impresario are not related. Impress is a descendant of the Latin pressare, a form of the verb premere, which means "to press."
Examples of impresario in a Sentence
George Gurley, New York Times, 21 June 2024
Host Ariana DeBose shined in a colorful, stained glass-style ballgown from Oscar de la Renta; Hell's Kitchen impresario Alicia Keys shined in a custom off-the-shoulder red Gucci dress, complete with matching opera gloves.
—Christian Allaire, Vogue, 17 June 2024
Anatomy 1212 Lincoln Road, Suite 204, Miami Beach The concept: Founded by former NFL player Marc Megna and nightlife impresario Chris Paciello, this high-end gym open a year ago is an offshoot of the first Anatomy opened in 2015 in Miami Beach’s boutique neighborhood of Sunset Harbour.
—Luis Campuzano, WWD, 15 June 2024
That is part of what makes this exhibit interesting – the fact that two music impresarios would propagate art beyond their own musical talents.
—Ken Makin, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for impresario 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'impresario.' 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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Cite this Entry
“Impresario.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impresario. Accessed 2 Jul. 2024.
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impresario
noun
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