cancan
Americannoun
-
cancans
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cancan
1840–50; < French, repetitive compound (based on can ) said to be nursery variant of canard duck; see canard
Vocabulary lists containing cancan
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 built a reputation for hosting whirlwind nights and extravagant shows, and its dancers played a paramount role in bringing the frenzied style of the modern cancan dance to the mainstream.
From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2024
It is relatively quiet — Picasso would also paint cancan dancers, but not now — a suave, sophisticated crowd painted by an artist who understood its fashions, body language and interpersonal connections perfectly.
From New York Times ● May 11, 2023
But by the end of the Broadway Sinfonietta’s overture and Kevin Chamberlin’s opening number — complete with a cancan kick line! — my skepticism for the scrappy experiment had waned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2021
Exuberant cancan melodies from the film soundtracks filtered through the galleries, seeming to animate Lautrec’s imagery.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 11, 2019
Meanwhile, the young men were waiting for the cancan.
From The Reign of Greed by Charles E. Derbyshire
Before the wedding, she did playful cancans in the vestry and, because it was a cold, snowy day, she remembers: "I put on my father's Long Johns under my wedding dress."
From Time Magazine Archive
It fetches up a lot of gay, happy dancing, much of it with a period touch of cancans and cakewalks.
From Time Magazine Archive
She knows better than to believe cancans, and has slept the sleep of the angels.
From The Maid of Honour (Vol. 3 of 3) A Tale of the Dark Days of France by Lewis Wingfield
The pompous little beggars with puffed-out wattles and neck ruffs were positively doing cancans and two-steps along the prairie floor.
From The Prairie Wife by Harvey Dunn
“Quoi v’la tous les cancans d’la s’maine!” sang Gertrude, a proud damsel, who was looking roguishly askance at the Captain-General.
From The Reign of Greed by Charles E. Derbyshire
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