tango
noun
a ballroom dance of Latin American origin, danced by couples, and having many varied steps, figures, and poses.
tango
American
[tang-goh]
/ ˈtæŋ goʊ /
noun
-
tangos
plural
-
a ballroom dance of Latin American origin, danced by couples, and having many varied steps, figures, and poses.
-
music for this dance.
-
a word used in communications to represent the letter T.
verb (used without object)
-
tangoes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tangoed,
past participle, past
-
tangoing
present participle
tango
1
British
/ ˈtæŋɡəʊ /
noun
-
a Latin American dance in duple time, characterized by long gliding steps and sudden pauses
-
a piece of music composed for or in the rhythm of this dance
verb
Tango
2
British
/ ˈtæŋɡəʊ /
noun
tango
Cultural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tangosimple
-
tangoessimple
-
have tangoedperfect
-
has tangoedperfect
-
am tangoingprogressive
-
are tangoingprogressive
-
is tangoingprogressive
-
have been tangoingperfect progressive
-
has been tangoingperfect progressive
Past
-
tangoedsimple
-
had tangoedperfect
-
was tangoingprogressive
-
were tangoingprogressive
-
had been tangoingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tango
First recorded in 1910–15; from Latin American Spanish, possibly from a Niger-Congo language such as Ibibio tamgu “to dance”
Explanation
The noun tango usually refers to the Argentine tango, a dramatic ballroom dance, and the expressive music that goes along with it. The tango is known for being a passionate, emotional form of dance in which the dancing couple hold each other closely and make abrupt — yet graceful — movements. The accompanying music is equally dramatic and varied, often featuring many instruments such as violin, piano, and bandoneón, a type of concertina or small accordion. The word tango is of Latin American Spanish origin, probably from an African root word.
Vocabulary lists containing tango
Dance - Introductory
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Dance - Middle School and High School
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Harry Belafonte (1927–2023) Tribute List
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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.
See Examples For:
Exercise options included familiar activities such as salsa and tango, along with outdoor group workouts in public parks.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 6, 2026
They married in 2005 and for years practiced tango on a dance floor they installed in one of their barns.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2026
It takes two to tango, but it was only she who paid the band.
From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2026
The men also have solo turns but the suite leaves only a passing impression, of postmodern tango mixed with occasional sleek social dancing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2025
Welles cues Bernard Herrmann, and the CBS orchestra plays a Spanish tango.
From "Spooked!" by Gail Jarrow
Speaking of the top of the funnel, the direct-to-consumer pet-food marketer Spot & Tango is running an awareness campaign after spending essentially nothing on branding last year, Modern Retail reports this morning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
My first Hilary show was either Wango Tango or a Jingle Ball with KIIS-FM, so it was just a festival with a bunch of different artists but I went specifically for her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
He added that these initial results leave Tango Therapeutics “undervalued at current levels.”
From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026
Seyboth, the technology employee, left his job at the software company Tango last year, and now regularly hears from former colleagues at a range of companies who are miserable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026
All he can see is the marquee of the movie theater at which, ten days earlier, he’d been to see Le Tango de la Mort.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Kardashian’s most recent real-life legal tangos includes filing a lawsuit with her mother, Kris Jenner, against ex-boyfriend Ray J for defamation and false-light publicity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2025
He took a warm, supportive but critical approach as he watched celebrities taking on tangos and waltzes, adding a down-to-earth touch to the otherwise frequently flamboyant panel of judges.
From Reuters ● Apr. 24, 2023
At Chez Régine, she served bottles of liquor instead of just cocktails and played a then-exotic mix of rumbas, tangos, merengues and rock songs.
From Washington Post ● May 2, 2022
Casualty star Charles Venn isn't planning to swap acting with Argentine tangos - instead, he's going to do both.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2018
The memory of what was and the sight of what is clash together in my mind like tangos in two different keys.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
And perhaps even more than in her sticky-sweet pas de deux with Oh, there’s something sorrowful yet hopeful about her unpredictable tangoes with Kim Bodnia, who plays her original handler, Konstantin.
From Slate ● Apr. 4, 2019
So were dance halls, until Santiago authorities reflected that slow, intimate Chilean tangoes would be just right for spreading typhus.
From Time Magazine Archive
In training for three years, he smooches, smirks, tangoes, goes through the motions of re-enacting scenes from such Valentino favorites as The Sheik and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
From Time Magazine Archive
At this time he danced the danzon at least as well as Edward of Wales tangoes today, was in fact, a noted cavalier.
From Time Magazine Archive
Sue foxes like she was born in a fox hole under a hollow log, but she tangoes like the original Emperor Tang himself, so go ahead and suit yourself.
From The Daredevil by Maria Thompson Daviess
In “One From the Heart,” Coppola gave her an early lead role, and Garr — a former professional dancer — tangoed down a Las Vegas street with Frederic Forrest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2024
The impact has tangoed off the Strictly dance floor and into venues across the country, with many seeing a surge in people wanting to sign up for classes and competitions.
From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2021
Meanwhile, Greens pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm was all but matching Smoltz in excellence, though with pitches that tangoed more than darted.
From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2020
I tangoed, two-stepped and did the cha-cha as I dealt with embarrassing diarrhea, frequent bowel incontinence and the necessity of knowing the location of a bathroom wherever I went.
From US News ● Mar. 28, 2016
Although the young people ragged and tangoed incessantly, she rarely danced, and then it was with the young men.
From The Little Lady of the Big House by Jack London
However, towards the end of the video, the man is dramatically revealed to be John Travolta, who finishes the clip by tangoing with two women.
From Fox News ● Aug. 7, 2019
If my agent sold my next novel for seven figures, I'd still have burn marks on my arms from tangoing with sheet pans.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2018
Twitter and other social media sites were abuzz with photo-shopped images of Obama tangoing superimposed over scenes of carnage.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 24, 2016
In 2000, Rickman appeared as Sharleen Spiteri’s love interest in the music video for Texas’s 2000 hit ‘In Demand’, which involves them tangoing at a petrol station.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 14, 2016
I coughed again, and backpedaled, the Eagle and I tangoing our way toward his living room.
From "Looking for Alaska" by John Green
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