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• square dance
  square dance

  noun

  a dance by a set of four couples arranged in a square or in some set form.
• square-dance
  square-dance

  verb (used without object)

  to perform or participate in a square dance.

square dance

¹ American  

noun

1. a dance by a set of four couples arranged in a square or in some set form.

2. hoedown.

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square-dance ² American  

[skwair-dans, -dahns] / ˈskwɛərˌdæns, -ˌdɑns /

verb (used without object)

square-danced, square-dancing

1. to perform or participate in a square dance.

2. to participate in a hoedown.

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square dance British  

noun

1. any of various formation dances, such as a quadrille, in which the couples form squares

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verb

1. (intr) to perform such a dance

Other Word Forms

• square dancer
  noun
• square dancing
  noun
• square-dancer
  noun

Etymology

Origin of square dance¹

First recorded in 1865–70

Origin of square-dance²

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

Then he led a large group in the “casino circle,” a sort of Latin square dance that originated in Havana in the 1950s.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 4, 2026

But she couldn’t hold hands on Sundays at church or when her third-grade class learned to square dance.

From New York Times • Mar. 23, 2020

TUE View of fireworks, barbecue dinner, square dance lessons, movie for kids, 6:30 p.m.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 29, 2017

She was a volunteer with St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington and a participant in a square dance group.

From Washington Post • Apr. 29, 2017

It must have looked like we were doing some kind of square dance with me moving around like one foot was nailed to the porch.

From "The Watsons Go to Birmingham" by Christopher Paul Curtis