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.
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
First recorded in 1910–15; from Latin American Spanish, possibly from a Niger-Congo language such as Ibibio tamgu “to dance”
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.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
WASHINGTON—Ever since President Trump returned to office last January, he and the Supreme Court have been locked in an uneasy tango.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 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
His other passions included football, the tango and the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, a city he professed to love "more than any place else".
From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2026
It takes two to tango, but it was only she who paid the band.
From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2026
It was the immutable tango between the Dumper and the Dumpee: the coming and the seeing and the conquering and the returning home.
From "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green
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
Tango Therapeutics gained 53% to $30.93 on Monday, part of a 254% advance this year.
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
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
They’re her dance shoes for when she takes the free dance class at the Tango Palace downtown.
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
But after twelve weeks of tangos, salsas and foxtrots, this was Ellie and Vito's night.
From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2023
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
Throughout, there are waltzes, smoky tangos, airborne flights in all manner of gasp-inducing brilliance from a splendid ensemble swept into motion by Peter Salem’s lush, agitated music, performed live.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 1, 2022
I think of rude tangos and how he used to walk me to Marysia’s apartment in the snow.
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
Disease, filth, white slavery, prize fights, tangoes, rottenness, and shame.
From Treading the Narrow Way by Barrett, R. E.
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 clip was the coolest thing in politics since Barack Obama tangoed in Argentina.
From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2019
"All I wanted was a dance party," bassist Este Haim told the BBC afterwards, "and then Glastonbury danced with me. We tangoed."
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2017
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
"Sadie Hartmann was sure sore when I tangoed off with him," she would observe reminiscently....
From The Dwelling Place of Light — Complete by Churchill, Winston
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.
