bolero
Americannoun
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boleros
plural
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a lively Spanish dance in triple meter.
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the music for this dance.
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a jacket ending above or at the waistline, with or without collar, lapel, and sleeves, worn open in front.
noun
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a Spanish dance, often accompanied by the guitar and castanets, usually in triple time
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a piece of music composed for or in the rhythm of this dance
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a kind of short jacket not reaching the waist, with or without sleeves and open at the front: worn by men in Spain and by women elsewhere
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bolero
Borrowed into English from Spanish around 1780–90
Explanation
A bolero is a type of quick, lively Spanish dance. It's also a short jacket worn mainly by women. You could dance a bolero in a bolero, because this word refers to both clothes and music. The kind of bolero you wear is a short jacket that just about comes down to the waist. A bolero is most often worn by women: except in Spain, where men wear it too. The dance is a quick-paced type of music that you could do to Ravel's famous piece, also called Bolero. Both the music and the jacket come from Spain.
Vocabulary lists containing bolero
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
I had never made a bolero song and I dared to do that this time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
In 2015, musician Roberto Carlos launched Boleros de Noche, an annual concert series held in Los Angeles that aimed at preserving and showcasing the Latin American bolero music genre.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
Porter originally wrote it as a sultry bolero, but Sinatra and Riddle supercharge it into one of the singer’s most celebrated uptempo showcases.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026
The crinoline-skirted kingfisher blue gown and matching bolero jacket the Queen wore for her sister Princess Margaret's wedding in 1960 has an "incredible timeless quality", says de Guitaut.
From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2025
Doña Laura had danced a bolero with Don Carlos that was as good as in the movies.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
She started off by performing boleros for her family, then studied to become a classically trained singer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2025
But you can also expect drama and boleros — because that’s what Daniel Me Estás Matando plays.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2025
Arrieta likes to play old Spanish boleros for his children, the same type of music his mother listened to on the radio when he was a child.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2023
The score — by Keko Baldomero, who plays guitar in the excellent band — crosses traditional flamenco rhythms and forms with the wistful, slow-dance romance of boleros.
From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2023
The old man had barely said anything since his stroke, but occasionally he’d blurt out random boleros from back in the day.
From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
