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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

Hay, hā, n. a country-dance with winding movement.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

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)

While he with praiseworthy perseverance was still scraping away, requesting the hand of the lady for a cotillion, a minuette, or a country-dance, a gentleman came up and spoke to her.

From Ronald Morton, or the Fire Ships A Story of the Last Naval War by Hoggans, T.

The fiddler was playing some sort of country-dance and all the company, except the very old people, were dancing and singing, some of the men indulging in most wonderful steps and capers.

From Chateau and Country Life in France by Waddington, Mary Alsop King

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

The shows so far have spanned the modern desert’s full range of scenes — country dance nights, the scuzzy punk of Throw Rag, cabaret drag acts and gothic folk from Blood Nebraska.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2025

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

FRI Zydeco dance lesson, 7:15 p.m., blues, swing, zydeco, Cajun, country dance for all ages with DJ, 8-11 p.m.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 18, 2018

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

From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes