dance

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Frenchman: This dance is French and we're proud of it.

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Definitions (46)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (14)

  1. intransitive verb To move rhythmically usually to music, using prescribed or improvised steps and gestures.
  2. intransitive verb To leap or skip about excitedly.
  3. intransitive verb To appear to flash or twinkle: eyes that danced with merriment.
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Examples (50)

  • After all had their supper over I proposed to the Indians that we have a dance This dance is what they call a dance of peace, and is carried on in a manner like this: They—or all that wish to participate in the dance—form in a circle around the camp-fire, singing, or rather humming, a certain tune. —  Thirty-One Years on the Plains and In the Mountains
  • If the dance is already in the dancer, how could the dance merge with the dancer or vice versa?
  • When the dancers began moving in silence, suddenly this dance was almost beautiful.
  • This dance is about being graceful, passionate and smooth
  • A Valentine's Day rally followed by a dance is a great idea. —  Pam's House Blend - Front Page
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Words tagged dance

two step · charleston · bolero · lambada · tango · ballet · swing · merengue · salsa · sardana · springdans

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This word has been looked up 207 times.

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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

music ·  play ·  scene ·  shoot ·  movement ·  sound ·  sport ·  beauty ·  dress ·  conversation ·  round ·  band

Used in the same contextWord Family

dance:   dancing ·  dances ·  danced
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English dauncen, from Old French danser, perhaps of Germanic origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also daunce; from Middle English dauncen, daunsen (= Dutch dansen = Middle Low German Low German danzen = Danish dandse = Sw. dansa = Icelandic danza, modern dansa; also, of earlier date, Middle High German and G. tanzen), from Old French dancer, danser, French danser = Provencal dansar = Spanish danzar = Portuguese dançar = Italian danzare, from Middle Latin dansare, dance, prob. from Old High German dansōn, Middle High German dansen, draw, draw along, trail, a secondary verb, prob. from Old High German dinsan, Middle High German dinsen = Old Saxon thinsan = Gothic (Moesogothic) *thinsan, in comp. atthinsan, draw, drag, akin to uf-thanjan, stretch after, etc.: see thin. Older Teutonic terms for dance were: Anglo-Saxon tumbian (later ult. English tumble: see tumble, tumbler); hoppian (later English hop: see hop); sealtian = Old High German salzōn. from Latin saltare (see saltation); Old Saxon Old High German spilōn (= German spielen, play: see spell); Gothic (Moesogothic) laikan, literally play (see lark); Gothic (Moesogothic) plinsjan, from Old Bulgarian plensati, dance.
  2. Early modern English daunce; from Middle English daunce, dawnce (= Dutch dans = Middle Low German danz, dans, Low German danz = Danish dands = Sw. dans = OIcel. danz, modern dans; also, of earlier date, Middle High German and G. tanz), from Old French dance, danse, French danse = Provencal dansa = Spanish Italian danza = Portuguese dança; from the verb.
 

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/dæns/
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Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich