/pree'meuh don"euh, prim'euh/ ; It. /prddee"mah dawn"nah/ , pl. prima donnas , It. prime donne /prddee"me dawn"ne/ .
1. a first or principal female singer of an opera company.
2. a temperamental person; a person who takes adulation and privileged treatment as a right and reacts with petulance to criticism or inconvenience.
[ 1760-70; ]