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• country-dance
  country-dance

  noun

  a dance of rural English origin in which the dancers form circles or squares or in which they face each other in two rows.
• country dance
  country dance

  noun

  a type of folk dance in which couples are arranged in sets and perform a series of movements, esp facing one another in a line

country-dance

American  

[kuhn-tree-dans, -dahns] / ˈkʌn triˌdæns, -ˌdɑns /

noun

1. a dance of rural English origin in which the dancers form circles or squares or in which they face each other in two rows.

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country dance British  

noun

1. a type of folk dance in which couples are arranged in sets and perform a series of movements, esp facing one another in a line

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Other Word Forms

• country dancing
  noun

Etymology

Origin of country-dance

First recorded in 1570–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

country-dance country dance

Courses are as varied as English country-dance, the presidency and genealogy on the computer.

From Time Magazine Archive

About one hundred couple stood up in each country-dance, but the rooms are so large and so judiciously lighted, that we did not feel at all warm.

From Life in Mexico by Calderón de la Barca, Madame (Frances Erskine Inglis)

When she had gone through a Polish minuet and a single country-dance or schottische, she went away at once, after flashing through the room like a meteor.

From A Russian Gentleman by Aksakov, S. T. (Sergei Timofeevich)

The country-dance occupied the whole length of the room; and round the walls were disposed tables for whist or loo, where the elders amused themselves with as much pleasure, and not less noise.

From Jack Hinton The Guardsman by Lever, Charles James

I consider a country-dance as an emblem of marriage.

From Northanger Abbey by Austen, Jane

The 16-year-old has enjoyed the country dance style since she was seven, following in the footsteps of her mum, grandmother and great-grandmother.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2025

Live music shall fill the cozy Ballard tavern once more when Midnight Suns kick off the bar’s Tuesday country dance night.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 24, 2021

Carolyn Harris and Jay Marsh met at a country dance in Virginia while he was finishing his Army stint.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 26, 2021

They were there to dance the forró, a rustic country dance from northeastern Brazil that has fired the romantic imaginations of Parisians young and old, at a weekly gathering devoted to the dance.

From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2010

At this country dance Johnny for the first time saw Rab move suddenly into action.

From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes