conga
Americannoun
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congas
plural
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Also called conga line. a Cuban ballroom dance that consists of three steps forward followed by a kick, characteristically performed by a group following a leader in a single line.
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the music for this dance.
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Also called conga drum. a tall, conical, Afro-Cuban drum played with the hands.
verb (used without object)
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congas,
present (3rd person singular)
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congaed,
past participle, past
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congaing
present participle
noun
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a Latin American dance of three steps and a kick to each bar, usually performed by a number of people in single file
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Also called: conga drum. a large tubular bass drum, used chiefly in Latin American and funk music and played with the hands
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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congasimple
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congassimple
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have congaedperfect
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has congaedperfect
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am congaingprogressive
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are congaingprogressive
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is congaingprogressive
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have been congaingperfect progressive
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has been congaingperfect progressive
Past
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congaedsimple
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had congaedperfect
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was congaingprogressive
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were congaingprogressive
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had been congaingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of conga
First recorded in 1930–35; from Cuban Spanish
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:
The chain’s executives are hoping that those planned visits will include paying $20 to $40 a ticket to join the conga line and throwing down at the bar.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
Another visitor, Richard Smekal, posted about the conga line of climbers who packed onto the cables leading to the Half Dome summit.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026
In no time, there were conga lines and limbo contests, and by the wee hours, someone always ended up at the emergency room and at least one marriage was in peril.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025
Winkleman added: "This means everything. We're so grateful. We're going to do the conga."
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2024
And that hat she wore the day she danced the conga line with the Daughters of Mary.
From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
“Let There Be Love” finds the drummer using his hands on his tom-toms to make them sound like congas, giving the track an Erroll Garner flavor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
Squeezing past a set of congas he came to his signature instrument – the vibraphone.
From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2025
He played at least four instruments — guitar, drums, congas and tambourine — in addition to taking over lead vocals on “Forever” during sunset .
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2024
From the sidewalk outside El Fogón, you can see the twin rotisseries slowly spinning in place, the skewers stacked high and wide until they look like congas.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 15, 2023
Ruben, a lanky, light-skinned Dominican with a finely trimmed goatee, rained thundering blasts down on the kit, while his brother Kaz came in with a suave tuk-tuk-tuking on the congas.
From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older
Schweini should suffer no repeat tonight: these days opponents crumble in front of him, rather than congaing behind him.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 7, 2010
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.
