dancer
noun
a person who dances.
dancer
1 American
[dan-ser, dahn-]
/ ˈdæn sər, ˈdɑn- /
Dancer
2
American
[dan-ser, dahn-]
/ ˈdæn sər, ˈdɑn- /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of dancer
Explanation
A dancer is someone who dances for fun, as a hobby, or for a job. The dancers at a rock concert often look like they're enjoying the music most of all. You can be a dancer at your cousin's wedding reception, or a dancer in a professional ballet corps. Though the second example requires a much more serious commitment than the first, they both require you to move your body rhythmically, usually accompanied by music. In Old French, dancer means "to dance," and its origin is somewhat uncertain. One theory connects the word to the Old Frisian dintje, which means "tremble or quiver."
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 professional ballroom dancer revealed her pregnancy Monday on “Good Morning America,” stating that although she’s excited for the experience, it is also “daunting.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
But with a ballet core wardrobe, I can dress like one anyway, play the part of sophisticated dancer — sophisticated woman — in my spandex and satin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Notable performances include the world premieres of a work choreographed by ex-New York City Ballet principal Jock Soto and a piece by contemporary dancer and choreographer Sidra Bell.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
But to show a live-action dancer partnering an animated figure in an entirely painted landscape as autumn leaves swirl in slow motion around them was another feat altogether.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Then he remembered the tiny fire dancer, and he wondered if it still lived in there with the fire-sword soldier.
From "Forged by Fire" by Sharon M. Draper
Rae said Murrell browsed through their stock and bought a pendant called the Mirrie Dancer Drongs.
From BBC ● May 25, 2026
These include Klimt’s knockout masterpiece, 1916-18 “The Dancer” and Kirchner’s 1911 “The Russian Dancer Mela,” as well works by Otto Dix, George Grosz and Franz Marc.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
Dancer Joanna Banks first stepped on stage in Northern Ireland in 1958 as a teenager with the Royal Ballet, now 86 years old she is back on the boards.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
Dancer Chandler Davidson is one of the company’s more recent additions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026
"You wanna go to the Tiny Dancer tryouts with me?"
From "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" by John Green and David Levithan
A video from 2015 shows how, in Ojibwe tradition, dancers provide healing through the rhythmic music created, with every step they take, by the numerous cone-shaped bells that adorn their jingle-dresses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
She reassured that they wouldn’t even notice me, that the dancers would only be looking at themselves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
When I sat down to observe the dancers, my back was to the wall of mirrors, which meant they would face me as they moved across the floor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Fully integrated this time, they made the Act 2 name-day party exponentially more nightmarish for poor Tatyana, crowding the room along with the dancers sporting animal heads.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
The theater had lost its luster and its high-society audience, reduced to booking vaudeville comedians, clog dancers, and trick dogs.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
