tango
noun
tan·go
| \ ˈtaŋ-(ˌ)gō
\
\
plural tangos
Definition of tango
(Entry 1 of 3)
1
: a ballroom dance of Latin American origin in ²/₄ time with a basic pattern of step-step-step-step-close and characterized by long pauses and stylized body positions
also
: the music for this dance
2
: interaction marked by a lack of straightforwardness
the suspect's tango with police
tango
verb
tangoed;
tangoing;
tangos
Definition of tango (Entry 2 of 3)
: to dance the tango
Tango
communications code wordDefinition of Tango (Entry 3 of 3)
—used as a code word for the letter t
Examples of tango in a Sentence
Noun
The band played a tango.Verb
He's trying to learn how to tango.Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
Turn up the tango playing on the sound system, shove the tables aside and dinner could quickly become dinner and a dance. — Dominic Armato, azcentral, "Here's what to try at La Esquina Argentina, the East Valley's new Argentinian restaurant," 12 Aug. 2019 Once open, Cafe Sevilla will feature flamenco and tango dancers, as well as a dance space for guests. — Daily Pilot, "Biz News: Changes ahead for Costa Mesa’s South Coast Collection," 7 Aug. 2019 Then, at more than the halfway point, the man gets up and begins to perform the tango with two women at the bar. — Johnny Diaz, sun-sentinel.com, "Pitbull music video features John Travolta dancing in Miami Beach," 6 Aug. 2019 The whimsy too is Agami’s and Sharon’s, as are the more aggressive scenes, particularly the desert tango in which dancers become like a mob of dangerous amphibians or giant locusts or something. — Mark Swed, latimes.com, "Review: ‘Atlas’ needs no words to astonish as the L.A. Phil wraps its centennial season," 12 June 2019 Country filigrees are sometimes heard, but the music is mostly pop, with touches of soul and a bit of tango, plus a whole lot of disco. — Daryl H. Miller, latimes.com, "A fun ‘Bronco Billy’ roams the Wild West to a disco beat," 11 June 2019 Dong Ling catches his wife, Yu Fang (Liu Juei-chi), sensually dancing with her lover at a tango class. — Elena Nicolaou, refinery29.com, "Cities Of Last Things," 15 July 2019 In a Whitekeys show, seeing Elvis Presley doing the tango with an unnaturally blond Hispanic fish makes a weird kind of sense. — Donna Freedman, Anchorage Daily News, "Farewell to the 'Follies’: Mr. Whitekeys says his shows are ending — for good, this time," 12 June 2019 The sparkling heels of the cellist move so slightly, as if in a restrained, secret tango keeping time with her cello. — James Florio, National Geographic, "See the wildest art destination in the West," 21 Mar. 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
Two to tango Working in the same group, but a few years Maike’s senior, was an Indian ecologist named Smitha Krishnan. — Nandita Jayaraj, Quartz India, "The coffee plantations of India’s western ghats are being wrongly blamed for climate change," 4 Sep. 2019 Trump's simplistic desire to tango with Putin appears to be permanently on hold, thanks to the concrete realities of geopolitics. — Aaron Blake, Washington Post, "Trump’s good cop-bad cop routine with Russia is looking untenable," 30 Mar. 2018 The Roadster won’t have a chance to tango with Earth until its first close encounter in 2091. — Julissa Treviño, Smithsonian, "Tesla Roadster Has Six Percent Chance of Crashing to Earth in the Next Million Years," 17 Feb. 2018 But the 13-term Republican, who tangoed with both President Obama and the insurgent Tea Party, is no longer holding back his thoughts on several conservative media figures. — Rob Tornoe, Philly.com, "Former top Republican John Boehner unloads on 'idiot' Sean Hannity," 30 Oct. 2017 West and Oconomowoc will tango Oct. 28 with a state berth on the line in Watertown. — Jr Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Pewaukee girls volleyball team stuns No. 1-ranked Kettle Moraine Lutheran in sectional," 27 Oct. 2017 Fall is prime time for deer-car collisions in the U.S. and in Kentucky, motorists are more than likely to tango with Bambi. — Sarah Brookbank, Cincinnati.com, "Deer vs. cars: What you need to know this fall," 5 Oct. 2017 But, as is the norm when Hollywood tangos with science, the science stumbled in translation to the screen. — The Washington Post, The Mercury News, "Storm chasers honor ‘Twister’ star Bill Paxton," 27 Feb. 2017 But who would want to tango with Legere, the wireless industry’s rock-star CEO? — Tamara Chuang, The Denver Post, "Heard at CES 2017: T-Mobile’s CEO disses Dish during CES media event," 5 Jan. 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'tango.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for tango
tango
noun
English Language Learners Definition of tango
(Entry 1 of 2)
: a Latin-American dance in which couples make long pauses in difficult positions
also
: the music used for this dance
tango
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of tango (Entry 2 of 2)
: to dance the tango
See the full definition for tango in the English Language Learners Dictionary
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