• (British) IPA: /ˈəʊvətjʊə/, /ˈəʊvətʃ(ʊ)ə/
• (America) IPA: /ˈoʊvəɹtʃəɹ/

overture (plural overtures)

1. (obsolete) An opening; a recess or chamber. [15th-19th c.]

   • the cave's inmost overture

2. (obsolete) Disclosure; discovery; revelation.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene vii]:

     It was he / That made the overture of thy treasons to us.

3. (often in plural) An approach or proposal made to initiate communication, establish a relationship etc. [from 15th c.]
   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 20:

     My mother had no choice; one did not turn down such an overture from the regent.

4. (Scotland) A motion placed before a legislative body, such as the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. [from 16th c.]
5. (music) A musical introduction to a piece of music. [from 17th c.]

• (opening of a piece of music) coda

• overt

• German: Angebot, Annäherungsversuch, Offerte
• Russian: предложе́ние

• French: ouverture
• German: Ouvertüre
• Italian: ouverture, preludio, introduzione
• Portuguese: abertura
• Russian: увертю́ра
• Spanish: obertura

overture (overtures, present participle overturing; past and past participle overtured)

1. (intransitive) To make overtures; to approach with a proposal.
   • 2012, K.H. Rubin, ‎H.S. Ross, Peer Relationships and Social Skills in Childhood (page 44)

     For a partner setting a table in a game of “house,” an overturing child might assume the role of the father returning home from work at dinnertime rather than overturing by throwing a ball toward the child and yelling “catch.”