mama mia
Emphatic Italian exclamation
Mama mia is an Italian exclamation expressing surprise, dismay, or exasperation, borrowed into English with the same range.
It functions like "oh my" or "good grief": Mama mia, what a mess!
The spelling mamma mia is also common.
The phrase gained wider currency through the ABBA song and subsequent musical.
- musicalSung theatrical production
- ABBASwedish disco-era pop group
- oh noExclamation of alarm
- filmMovie or coating
- theaterVenue for live drama
holy cow · holy moly · oh my goodness · good heavens · amore · Italian · goodness gracious · Meryl Streep · Greek island · interjection · here we go again · yikes · jeepers · surprise · mom · crikey · Broadway · stage show
mama miaunderstated
Deliberately minimized in expression
stiff upper lip · reserved · composed · unflappable · deadpan
mama, mamas, mommy, mommies, maternal, maternity, matriarch, matriarchal, matrix