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Definition of cantoria
cantoria
/kænˈtɔːriə/
can · to · ri · a
Plural:cantorias
cantoria Lexical Profile
CEFR
C2
Grade
13
Tier
3
Usage
Rare
• noun
1
A raised, often intricately sculpted or carved gallery or balcony in a church, especially in Italian Renaissance architecture, reserved for the choir and musicians.
Example
"The marble reliefs on the cathedral's cantoria depict children singing and playing musical instruments."
2
A monotypic genus of mildly venomous, rear-fanged aquatic mud snakes (family Homalopsidae) represented by Cantor's water snake (Cantoria violacea), which inhabits coastal mangrove swamps and tidal mudflats in Southeast Asia and feeds primarily on crustaceans.
Synonyms
View all synonyms for cantoria• Rhymes for cantoria
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
For the architectural sense, borrowed from Italian 'cantoria' (choir gallery), derived from 'cantore' (singer), ultimately from Latin 'cantor'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.
180019102020
Data source: Google Books Ngram Viewer
Cite this Entry
Wordmom. (2026). Definition of Cantoria. In Wordmom Dictionary. Retrieved Oct 16, 2026, from https://wordmom.com/dictionary/cantoria