fandango

[ fan-dang-goh ]

noun,plural fan·dan·gos.
  1. a lively Spanish or Spanish American dance in triple time, performed by a man and woman playing castanets.

  2. a piece of music for such a dance or one having its rhythm.

  1. (especially in the southwest U.S.) a ball or dance.

Origin of fandango

1
First recorded in 1765–70; <Spanish, of uncertain origin, perhaps from Portuguese fadango (unattested), from fado fado

Words Nearby fandango

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use fandango in a sentence

  • He ceased to find pleasure in his nets and boar spears, in the fandango and the bullfight.

  • She had heard the Methodists were having a fandango down in the valley.

    The Transformation of Job | Frederick Vining Fisher
  • Here a spirited fandango was going on, and they stood for some time watching the movements of the performers.

    Martin Rattler | R.M. Ballantyne
  • Tilted pensively against the piano, a guitar—guitar capable of playing the Spanish fandango by itself, if you give it a start.

    Life On The Mississippi, Complete | Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
  • Four skillful, or if not skillful at least indefatigable guitar-players played a fandango.

    Pepita Ximenez | Juan Valera

British Dictionary definitions for fandango

fandango

/ (fænˈdæŋɡəʊ) /


nounplural -gos
  1. an old Spanish courtship dance in triple time between a couple who dance closely and provocatively

  2. a piece of music composed for or in the rhythm of this dance

Origin of fandango

1
C18: from Spanish, of uncertain 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