doo-wop

[ doo-wop ]

/ ˈduˌwɒp /

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noun Popular Music.

a style of small-group vocal harmonizing, commercialized as a type of so-called street singing in the 1950s, in which words and nonsense syllables are chanted in rhythmic harmony to support the stylized melody of the lead singer.

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Origin of doo-wop

Representing the chanted syllables

Words nearby doo-wop

dooryard, doosra, do out, do out of, doover, doo-wop, doozy, dop, dopa, dopamine, dopaminergic

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use doo-wop in a sentence

The composite photo whose eyes follow you around the room are less Matthew Lewis or Sheridan Le Fanu than “Scooby-Doo.”
An Ivy League Frat Boy’s Shallow Repentance|Stefan Beck|November 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
That was my first movie, so I was totally green, and he was at the height of his Scooby Doo craziness.
Diane Kruger on ‘The Bridge,’ the Immigration Problem, and Rooting For Germany in the World Cup|Marlow Stern|July 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Plus, if you have kids, you may recognize her as Velma in the live-action Scooby-Doo movies.
The Most Random Old TV Stars to Appear on ‘Mad Men’|Kevin Fallon|May 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I used to sing just to do it, but then Art put together a doo-wop group.
The Stacks: The Neville Brothers Stake Their Claim as Bards of the Bayou|John Ed Bradley|April 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST

The dog might even have been drugged (we might call this the Scooby Doo explanation).
Is Sherlock Holmes a Good Detective?|Noah Charney|January 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
"Don't forget to tell him how the wop licked the Jew," broke in the prisoner.
From Place to Place|Irvin S. Cobb
"Dere iss doo empty shells und four goot vones," he announced.
Motor Matt's Mystery|Stanley R. Matthews
Don't speck hit is ergwine to do mars Jon no good do, but hit haint ergwine to pizen noboddy ef hit don't doo no good.
The Broken Sword|Dennison Worthington
I spose the papers ud call this an ar-tillery doo-el, remarked Pug, or re-noo-ed ar-tillery activity.
Grapes of wrath|Boyd Cable
It was Trudy Doo's rebel yell and I heard her guitar thrash out some chords, then her drummer playing, then that big deep bass.
Little Brother|Cory Doctorow

British Dictionary definitions for doo-wop

doo-wop

/ (ˈduːˌwɒp) /

noun

rhythm-and-blues harmony vocalizing developed by unaccompanied street-corner groups in the US in the 1950s

Word Origin for doo-wop

C20: of imitative origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012