La

Pronunciation

• IPA: /lɑː/
• Rhymes: -ɑː

Originally as the first syllable of Latin labii.

Full definition of la

Noun

1. (music) A syllable used in solfège to represent the sixth note of a major scale.

Synonyms

• lah

Coordinate terms

• (music) do, re, mi, fa, sol, ti

Old English lā.

Interjection

1. (obsolete) Used to introduce a statement with emphatic or intensive effect.
2. (archaic) Expressing surprise, anger. etc.
• 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, vol. III ch. 2:“Oh, la! here come the Richardsons. I had a vast deal more to say to you, but I must not stay away from them any longer.”

From French la, Italian la.

Adjective

1. Prefixed to the name of a woman, with ironic effect (as though an opera prima donna).
• 2007, Kate Carter, The Guardian, 22 Nov 2007:Following lukewarm on the heels of an article a few weeks ago, where (I paraphrase due to having filed the relevant copy in the recycling bin) Victoria Beckham made a "well-meaning" remark that the other Spice Girls might want to lose a few pounds, we now have a new incidence of La Beckham's scintillating and entirely well-meaning humour.
• 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic 2011, p. 232:By judicious leaking, he also managed to make la Kirkpatrick and her associates look rather unsavory.

Anagrams

• al , Al, AL