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
tango
2
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
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
When asked by TV hosts, she occasionally demonstrated a well-worn soft shoe routine, though her heart was with the tango.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
Back in the actual 1990s, ice dancers cycled through traditional dances: samba, blues, polka, rumba, quickstep, tango, jive, paso doble, Viennese waltz.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
It takes two to tango, but it was only she who paid the band.
From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2026
Mango tango disappeared under it and she had to put it on again.
From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison
While zookeepers immediately found and recaptured Tango, Samba is still on the loose.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 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
Of the 12 firms polled by FactSet, Tango Therapeutics has an average Buy rating and a $35.09 price price target.
From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026
Analyst Siraj Ahmed says his base case scenario is that DSV will shift much of its needs from WiseTech’s CargoWise platform to the Tango platform that came with its 2025 acquisition of DB Schenker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
The sound makes Tía wiggle her hips the way she does at the Tango Palace, while she fusses with Abuela about recipes.
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
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
My abuelos, born and raised in Argentina, still spend their days in the company of the similarly sweet bandoneon, a fixture of the melancholic tangos of Aníbal Troilo and Carlos Gardel.
From New York Times ● Nov. 24, 2021
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
Worse, she’s taken up ice dancing; she goes to classes at the local indoor rink, and tangos and waltzes in time to tinny music, holding hands with other women.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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
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
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
Disease, filth, white slavery, prize fights, tangoes, rottenness, and shame.
From Treading the Narrow Way by R. E. Barrett
Gaynor, who famously tangoed with Reiner for her Emmy-winning 1976 special, “Mitzi...Roarin’ in the 20s,” fondly remembered him as “a genius, a good friend, & a true gent.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2020
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
Jon Stewart has tangoed with a lot of political guests during his 15-plus year tenure, from sparring with Bill O’Reilly to bonding with Barack Obama.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2015
"Maybe the Times Building just tangoed across the square an' fell on me!" he went on with ponderous sarcasm.
From The Promise A Tale of the Great Northwest by James B. (James Beardsley) Hendryx
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
Secondly, after tangoing with Ted, I’d been sort of nervous setting foot inside a church.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
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.
