pas de deux
Americannoun
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a dance by two persons.
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(in classical ballet) a set dance for a ballerina and a danseur noble, consisting typically of an entrée, an adagio, a variation for each dancer, and a coda.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pas de deux
1755–65; < French: literally, step for two
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.
On this week’s Slate Plus exclusive, Timothée Chalamet enters the pas de deux between an Oscar-nominated actor and a public itching for a villain.
From Slate • Mar. 13, 2026
These comparisons aren’t exactly nuanced but they are stark and, for most of the film, Franco just asks us to watch them move together and apart, in a strange, avoidant pas de deux.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2026
For the occasion, artistic director Susan Jaffe astutely chose 11 one-act ballets and four pas de deux.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 3, 2025
Their partnership has a rounded sophistication that can be rare in a contemporary pas de deux.
From New York Times • Feb. 2, 2024
Hardly a pas de deux, there was a seesaw of results: wins for Bobby...draws...wins for Reshevsky.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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.
