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:
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
After spotting the moss green, knee-length frock with matching bolero jacket in the window of her local J.J.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
But Peluso appeared onstage sporting the regal poise of an operatic diva — a cross between La Lupe and Maria Callas — and then belted out “Corleone,” a sweeping orchestral bolero.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2025
I didn’t like it, Djo, and I haven’t danced the compos bolero since.
From "Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti" by Frances Temple
Inspired by artists like Natalia Lafourcade, singer-songwriter Selines’ guitar-based songs draw on the traditions of boleros, classical music and jazz, bringing a warm nostalgia and romance to her sound.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026
Meanwhile, in Latin America, the mournful tones of traditional boleros and rancheras gave way to more alternative expressions of heartache, influenced by anglophone artists and accented with distinctly Latino flourishes of romance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2025
The Spanish lyrics, characteristically for boleros, tend to address a beloved and, for Baras, the “you” in the songs is usually us.
From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2023
After she immigrated to the United States in 1962 following the Cuban Revolution, Álvarez worked as a cleaner for decades and continued to play the boleros.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2022
Sometimes a woman’s voice broke through, and then the men shouted louder, glass shattered violently, and the songs on the jukebox went from boleros about betrayal to guarachas and merengues about the good life.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
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.
