dancer
noun
a person who dances.
dancer
1 American
[dan-ser, dahn-]
/ ˈdæn sər, ˈdɑn- /
Dancer
2
American
[dan-ser, dahn-]
/ ˈdæn sər, ˈdɑn- /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of dancer
Explanation
A dancer is someone who dances for fun, as a hobby, or for a job. The dancers at a rock concert often look like they're enjoying the music most of all. You can be a dancer at your cousin's wedding reception, or a dancer in a professional ballet corps. Though the second example requires a much more serious commitment than the first, they both require you to move your body rhythmically, usually accompanied by music. In Old French, dancer means "to dance," and its origin is somewhat uncertain. One theory connects the word to the Old Frisian dintje, which means "tremble or quiver."
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:
It’s how your body moves, whether or not you’re a professional dancer looking into a wall of mirrors or just a woman passing her reflection on her way out the door.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Sand’s parents—Maurice Dupin de Francueil, a well-to-do Napoleonic officer, and Sophie Delaborde, a dancer and demimondaine—were married only one month before their daughter’s birth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
The painstaking animation and tracking process involved months of additional rehearsal and shooting with dancer Carol Haney, the live model for Scheherazade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Her relationships and break-ups have never been far from the headlines, including with comedian Pete Davidson, estate agent Dalton Gomez, her married Wicked co-star Ethan Slater, and former backing dancer Ricky Alvarez.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
Melba Valle lived above us and was a part-time model and dancer.
From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers
These include Klimt’s knockout masterpiece, 1916-18 “The Dancer” and Kirchner’s 1911 “The Russian Dancer Mela,” as well works by Otto Dix, George Grosz and Franz Marc.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
Dancer Chandler Davidson is one of the company’s more recent additions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026
Dancer Yang Sopheaktra, 21, graduated from the Phnom Penh school three years ago and recalled that the training was "really difficult".
From Barron's ● Dec. 31, 2025
According to Pantone, Cloud Dancer "is not just a colour, it's a mindset" and reflects a collective desire to slow down, reset and find calm after years of visual overload.
From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2025
Bran was riding Dancer around the yard when they came through the gate.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
A drag queen takes the stage and dancers move with her in unison.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
A video from 2015 shows how, in Ojibwe tradition, dancers provide healing through the rhythmic music created, with every step they take, by the numerous cone-shaped bells that adorn their jingle-dresses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
I learned instead that ballet is grueling, often painful work made to look effortless by the incredible professional dancers who dedicate their lives to the art form.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Fully integrated this time, they made the Act 2 name-day party exponentially more nightmarish for poor Tatyana, crowding the room along with the dancers sporting animal heads.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Ahead of the formal procession and behind it danced the riau-riau dancers.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
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.
