mambo

American  

[mahm-boh] / ˈmɑm boʊ /

noun

• mambos
  plural

1. a fast ballroom dance of Caribbean origin, rhythmically similar to the rumba and cha-cha but having a more complex pattern of steps.

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verb (used without object)

1. to dance the mambo.

mambo British  

/ ˈmæmbəʊ /

noun

1. a modern Latin American dance, resembling the rumba, derived from the ritual dance of voodoo

2. a voodoo priestess

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verb

1. (intr) to perform this dance

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• mambos
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of mambo

First recorded in 1935–40; from Caribbean Spanish (Cuba), from Haitian Creole manbo “ritual dance; Vodou priestess”; perhaps from Kongo màmbu, plural of diàmbu “ritual negotiation, message”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mambo mambos

However, he was not too fond of the emerging term, which seemed to cram different styles like mambo, charanga, rumba, guaracha and danzón into one single category.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2025

KFC ran a similar mambo sauce promotion at select locations in 2021.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 26, 2023

For the first four innings, the Mariners seemed destined to take a step back in their never-ending dance between a winning record and a losing record — call it the mambo of mediocrity.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 17, 2023

When Puente died in June 2000 at 77, it was a great blow not only to fans of mambo, cha-cha-cha, bugalú, salsa and Latin jazz, but also to New York itself.

From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2023

From son an abundant range of dance and song types blossomed: danzon, rumba, guaguanco, yambu, bossa nova, mambo, chachacha, conga, and eventually salsa.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

“On Thursday night Champagne hour, I would come out and do all these mambos and things.”

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 17, 2022

Musically, she showed uncommon adventurousness as well, singing everything from yodels and cowboy tunes to gospel standards, mambos, and torch ballads.

From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2018

Backed by his Latin big band with an assist from actor Andy Garcia on bongos, Sandoval played a high-energy set that included mambos both numbered and temperature-gauged.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2017

There are those dances, for one thing — freestyle choreographic interpretations of ancient rituals by Aztecs and Incas, as well as sambas, mambos, tangos and an Irish jig.

From New York Times ● Mar. 27, 2017

But the buildings were here long before the mambos reigned, and who built them, or why, no one knows.

From Impressions of South Africa by James Bryce, Viscount Bryce

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