txtDefinition=(Italian for \'93first lady\'94) The leading female singer (invariably a {\uldb soprano}{\v 152120}) in an eighteenth-century {\uldb opera}{\v 133191}. Since many prima donnas were quite full of themselves, the expression has survived into our own time to characterize an especially pretentious female. (It is sometimes used by men as a cheap shot at aggressive, self-assured women\'97but that\'92s a topic for another time\'85).
