doo-wop

American

[doo-wop] / ˈduˌwɒp /

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.

doo-wop British

/ ˈduːˌwɒp /

noun

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

"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

Etymology

Origin of doo-wop

Representing the chanted syllables

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.

The Brooklyn native and student of the famed Julliard School in New York was a founder of the doo-wop group The Tokens in the late 1950's.

From BBC • Feb. 27, 2026

By the 1960s their doo-wop sound had started to evolve into funk.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 29, 2025

That persistent harmonica intro or, god-forbid, his later forays into doo-wop were an eternal annoyance, part of the reason he started looking for some alternative in the first place.

From Salon • Dec. 14, 2025

From loud speakers, the doo-wop of The Moonglows singing “Sincerely” soared prettily over gritty streets.

From Seattle Times • May 4, 2024

All the while, the grimness is mocked by fifties doo-wop music that echoes from an old battery-operated radio somewhere.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023