ska

American

[skah] / skɑ /

noun

a modern style of vocalized Jamaican popular music, which emerged in the 1950s as a blend of African-Jamaican folk music, calypso, and American rhythm and blues, notable for its shuffling, scratchlike tempo and jazzlike horn riffs on the offbeat.

ska British

/ skɑː /

noun

a type of West Indian pop music of the 1960s, accented on the second and fourth beats of a four-beat bar

"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 ska

First recorded in 1960–65; of obscure origin

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.

I booked the indie, ska, emo, screamo and pop punk stuff.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 19, 2025

The result was a steady shift in the music-rich island from joyous ska and soulful rock-steady to reggae, a more brooding genre that addressed social and personal issues.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 24, 2025

The breeze carries no aroma of red wine or rain-soaked ska bands.

From Salon • Nov. 8, 2025

I missed punk because I was too young, but two-tone ska, I got into that big time.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2025

In the so-called "Elskov's Song," from Vestfjordal it is said— Ho som so gjilt kan po Langoleik spelo, Svanaug den vena, ska no væra mi!

From Strife and Peace by Howitt, Mary (Mary Botham)

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