dance
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɑːns/
note: Received Pronunciation, Cockney, Estuary, Jamaica
ipa: [dɑːns]
ipa: /dæns/
ipa: [dɛəns]
ipa: [deəns]
ipa: [dæns]
ipa: [dans]
ipa: [däns]
ipa: [dæːns]
note: Cultivated Australian, New Zealand
ipa: [däːns]
note: Cultivated Australian, New Zealand
ipa: [dɐːns]
ipa: [ɖɑːns]
rhymes: -ɑːns
rhymes: -æns
Forms: form: dances
form: daunce
Etymology: From Middle English dauncen, from Anglo-Norman dauncer, from Vulgar Latin *dantiāre, of uncertain origin. Displaced Old English sealtian, and partially displaced Old English hlēapan (“to leap, dance, run”) (whence modern leap).
Senses: examples: text: I do a dance when she plays the drums!
text: He does the Fortnite dance with his friends in school.
text: "I ought to arise and go forth with timbrels and with dances; but, do you know, I am not inclined to revels? There has been a little—just a very little bit too much festivity so far …. Not that I don't adore dinners and gossip and dances; not that I do not love to pervade bright and glittering places.[…]"
ref: 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter II, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
glosses: A sequence of rhythmic steps or movements usually performed to music, for pleasure or as a form of social interaction.
examples: text: The dance we had in August 2008 is one of the greatest moments of my life!
text: "I ought to arise and go forth with timbrels and with dances; but, do you know, I am not inclined to revels? There has been a little—just a very little bit too much festivity so far …. Not that I don't adore dinners and gossip and dances; not that I do not love to pervade bright and glittering places.[…]"
ref: 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter II, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
text: But, he continued, "the experience of the Peking Municipal Communist Youth League shows that, as long as dance parties are organized and supervised well by the work units concerned and these units organize their own sentries, as long as the people attending these dances are given a little coaching in advance on what is meant by normal socializing and recreation, and as long as these dances are organized, led and guided properly, there will be no incidents."
ref: 1985 April 29, Daniel Southerl, quoting Deng Liqun, “Saturday Night Fever in Peking”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Aug 2023:
glosses: A social gathering where dancing is the main activity.
glosses: The art, profession, and study of dancing.
glosses: A genre of modern music characterised by sampled beats, repetitive rhythms and few lyrics.
examples: text: They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups.
ref: 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC, page 9:
glosses: A piece of music with a particular dance rhythm.
examples: text: So how much longer are we gonna do this dance?
glosses: A battle of wits, especially one commonly fought between two rivals.
examples: text: He that would watch the king's hares must not drag himself along as if he was a lazybones with soles of lead to his boots, or like a fly on a tar-brush, for when the hares began to scamper about on the hill-sides it was quite another dance than lying at home and catching fleas with mittens on.
ref: 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 170:
glosses: Any strenuous or difficult movement, action, or task.
examples: text: It was seen that the readiness to dance and intensity of the dance are clearly increased when the temperature in the hive remained between 28-36° C.
ref: 1961 November, W. Wittekindt, “An Understanding of Dancing Behaviour”, in G. H. Cale, editor, The American Bee Journal, volume 101, number 11, Hamilton, page 434:
topics: agriculture
beekeeping
business
lifestyle
glosses: A repetitive movement used in communication between worker honey bees.
Synonyms: word: dance
Hyponyms: word: allemande
word: beguine
word: bergamask
word: bolero
word: bossa-nova
word: boston
word: bourrée
word: bransle
word: buck-and-wing
word: cabriole
word: cakewalk
word: canary
word: cancan
word: capoeira
word: carioca
word: cha-cha
word: chaconne
word: cinque-pace
word: conga
word: contredanse
word: cotillion
word: courante
word: czardas
word: disco
word: doppio
word: ductia
word: dump
word: estampie
word: fandango
word: farandole
word: farruca
word: flamenco
word: foxtrot
word: galliard
word: galop
word: gavotte
word: gigue
word: habanera
word: haka
word: hop
word: hora
word: hornpipe
word: hula
word: jig
word: jitterbug
word: jive
word: juba
word: kazachoc
word: kazatzka
word: ketjak
word: kolo
word: ländler
word: limbo
word: lindy
word: Macarena
word: malaguena
word: mambo
word: matachin
word: maxixe
word: mazurka
word: merengue
word: minuet
word: monster mash
word: moresco
word: morris
word: moshing
word: one-step
word: passacaglia
word: passepied
word: pavane
word: polacca
word: polka
word: polonaise
word: quadrille
word: quickstep
word: reel
word: rigadoon
word: round
word: roundel
word: rumba
word: salsa
word: saltarello
word: samba
word: sarabande
word: schottische
word: seguidilla
word: shag
word: shimmy
word: shuffle
word: slam-dancing
word: stomp
word: strathspey
word: tango
word: tarantella
word: tordion
word: tricotee
word: twist
word: two-step
word: varsovienne
word: volta
word: waltz
word: zamacueca
word: zambra
word: zapateado
word: ziganka
word: zoppetto
word: zouk
Derived terms: acro dance
adance
Africanist dance
Agadoo dance
antidance
apron dance
avant-dance
ballroom dance
barn dance
belly dance
belly-dance
big dance
booger dance
bottle dance
break dance
breakdance
break-dance
bubble dance
buck dance
cage dance
candle dance
Caribbean dance music
carpet dance
ceilidh dance
chain dance
chicken dance
Cinderella dance
cinedance
circle dance
clog dance
contra dance
country-dance
country dance
cushion-dance
cushion dance
danceaholic
danceathon
dance band
dance belt
dance-card
dance card
dancefest
dance floor
dance fly
dance game
dancegoer
dance-goer
dancegoing
dance gypsy
dancehall
dance-hall
dance hall
dance-happy
dance hostess
danceless
dancelike
danceline
dance machine
dancemaker
dancemaking
dance mat
dance move
dance music
dance of death
dance-off
dance of the seven veils
dance on a rope
dance on nothing
dance on someone's grave
dance pad
dance platform
dance pole
dancepop
dance-pop
dancer
dancercise
dancery
dancescape
dance school
dancesport
dance step
dance studio
dancetime
dance-time
dancewear
dancy
devil dance
dinner dance
dirty dance
disco-dance
dollar dance
downgrade dance
eagle dance
egg dance
electronic dance music
Eurodance
fan-dance
fan dance
feminist dance therapy
flannel dance
folk dance
for a song and a dance
for a song and dance
furry dance
ghost dance
Ghost Dance
grass dance
gravedance
gumboot dance
hat dance
highland dance
ice dance
intelligent dance music
Italo dance
jazz dance
Juba dance
kabuki dance
kissing dance
lap dance
lap-dance
last dance
lead someone a dance
lesbian dance theory
let's dance
line-dance
line dance
line of dance
lion dance
maize dance
medicine dance
merry dance
Mexican hat dance
modern dance
money dance
monkey dance
morris dance
multiplication dance
nondance
non-dance
oriental dance
partner dance
pee-pee dance
pole dance
potty dance
prairie chicken dance
predance
pronoun dance
rain dance
riverdance
rope dance
round dance
Sadie Hawkins dance
sequence dance
seven-veil dance
ski dance
skidance
skirt dance
slam dance
slam-dance
slow dance
snake dance
song and dance
spiral dance
spring dance
square dance
square-dance
step dance
step-dance
street dance
St. Vitus' dance
sun dance
sundance
swing dance
synthdance
table dance
tap-dance
tap dance
taxi dance
tea dance
tear up the dance floor
toe dance
toe-dance
touchdown dance
tremble dance
turnabout dance
veil dance
vernacular dance
waggle dance
wag-tail dance
war dance
weasel war dance
zombie dance
Related terms: word: :Category:Dances