An artistic form of nonverbal communication.

Roget 840: amusement, entertainment, recreation, fun, game, fun and games; diversion, divertissement; reaction, solace; pastime, passetemps [Fr.], sport; labor of love; pleasure etc. 827.    relaxation; leisure etc. 685.    fun, frolic, merriment, jollity; joviality, jovialness^†; heyday; laughter etc. 838; jocosity, jocoseness^†; drollery, buffoonery, tomfoolery; mummery, pleasantry; wit etc. 842; quip, quirk.    [verbal expressions of amusement: list] giggle, titter, snigger, snicker, crow, cheer, chuckle, shout; horse laugh, belly laugh, hearty laugh; guffaw; burst of laughter, fit of laughter, shout of laughter, roar of laughter, peal of laughter; cachinnation^†; Kentish fire; tiger.    play; game, game at romps; gambol, romp, prank, antic, rig, lark, spree, skylarking, vagary, monkey trick, gambade, fredaine^†, escapade, echappee [Fr.], bout, espieglerie [Fr.]; practical joke etc. (ridicule) 856.    dance; hop, reel, rigadoon^†, saraband^†, hornpipe, bolero, ballroom dance; [ballroom dances: list], minuet, waltz, polka, fox trot, tango, samba, rhumba, twist, stroll, hustle, cha-cha; fandango, cancan; bayadere^†; breakdown, cake-walk, cornwallis [U.S.], break dancing; nautch-girl; shindig [U.S.]; skirtdance^†, stag dance, Virginia reel, square dance; galop^†, galopade^†; jig, Irish jig, fling, strathspey^†; allemande [Fr.]; gavot^†, gavotte, tarantella; mazurka, morisco^†, morris dance; quadrille; country dance, folk dance; cotillon, Sir Roger de Coverley; ballet etc. (drama) 599; ball; bal, bal masque, bal costume; masquerade; Terpsichore.    festivity, merrymaking; party etc. (social gathering) 892; blowout [U.S.], hullabaloo, hoedown, bat [U.S.], bum [U.S.], bust [Slang], clambake [U.S.], donation party [U.S.], fish fry [U.S.], jamboree [Slang], kantikoy^†, nautch^†, randy, squantum [U.S.], tear [Slang], Turnerfest^†, yule log; fete, festival, gala, ridotto^†; revels, revelry, reveling; carnival, brawl, saturnalia, high jinks; feast, banquet etc. (food) 298; regale, symposium, wassail; carouse, carousal; jollification, junket, wake, Irish wake, picnic, fete champetre [Fr.], regatta, field day; treat.    round of pleasures, dissipation, a short life and a merry one, racketing, holiday making.    rejoicing etc. 838; jubilee etc. (celebration) 883.    bonfire, fireworks, feu-de-joie, firecracker.    holiday; gala day, red letter day, play day; high days and holidays; high holiday, Bank holiday; May day, Derby day; Saint Monday, Easter Monday, Whit Monday; Bairam^†; wayz-goos^†, bean feast; Arbor Day, Declaration Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving Day; Mardi gras [Fr.], mi-careme [Fr.], feria [Lat.], fiesta.    place of amusement, theater; hall, concert room, ballroom, assemblyroom^†; music hall.    park, plaisance^†; national park, national forest, state park, county park, city park, vest-pocket park, public park (public) 737.1; arbor; garden etc. (horticulture) 371; pleasure ground, playground, cricketground, croquet ground, archery ground, hunting ground; tennis court, racket court; bowling alley, green alley; croquet lawn, rink, glaciarum^†, skating rink; roundabout, merry-go-round; swing; montagne Russe [Fr.].    game of chance, game of skill.    athletic sports, gymnastics; archery, rifle shooting; tournament, pugilism etc. (contention) 720; sports etc. 622; horse racing, the turf; aquatics etc. 267; skating, sliding; cricket, tennis, lawn tennis; hockey, football, baseball, soccer, ice hockey, basketball; rackets, fives, trap bat and ball, battledore and shuttlecock, la grace; pall-mall, tipcat^†, croquet, golf, curling, pallone^†, polo, water polo; tent pegging; tilting at the ring, quintain [Mediev.]; greasy pole; quoits, horseshoes, discus; rounders, lacrosse; tobogganing, water polo; knurr and spell^†.    [childrens' games] leapfrog, hop skip and jump; mother may I; French and English, tug of war; blindman's bluff, hunt the slopper^†, hide and seek, kiss in the ring; snapdragon; cross questions and crooked answers.   ; crisscross, hopscotch; jacks, jackstones^†, marbles; mumblety-peg, mumble-the-peg, pushball, shinney, shinny, tag &c.; billiards, pool, pingpong, pyramids, bagatelle; bowls, skittles, ninepins, kain^†, American bowls^†; tenpins [U.S.], tivoli.    cards, card games; whist, rubber; round game; loo, cribbage, besique^†, euchre, drole^†, ecarte [Fr.], picquet^†, allfours^†, quadrille, omber, reverse, Pope Joan, commit; boston, boaston^†; blackjack, twenty-one, vingtun [Fr.]; quinze [Fr.], thirty-one, put, speculation, connections, brag, cassino^†, lottery, commerce, snip-snap-snoren^†, lift smoke, blind hookey, Polish bank, Earl of Coventry, Napoleon, patience, pairs; banker; blind poker, draw poker, straight poker, stud poker; bluff, bridge, bridge whist; lotto, monte, three-card monte, nap, penny-ante, poker, reversis^†, squeezers, old maid, fright, beggar-my-neighbor; baccarat.    [cards: list] ace, king, queen, knave, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, trey, deuce; joker; trump, wild card.    [card suits: list] spades, hearts, clubs, diamonds; major suit, minor suit.    bower; right bower, left bower; dummy; jackpot; deck.    [hands at poker: list] pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full-house, four of a kind, royal flush; misere &c.. [board games: list] chess, draughts, checkers, checquers, backgammon, dominos, merelles^†, nine men's morris, go bang, solitaire; game of fox and goose; monopoly; loto &c.; [word games: list], scrabble, scribbage, boggle, crossword puzzle, hangman.    morra^†; gambling etc. (chance) 621.    toy, plaything, bauble; doll etc. (puppet ) 554; teetotum^†; knickknack etc. (trifle) 643; magic lantern etc. (show) 448; peep show, puppet show, raree show, gallanty show^†; toy shop; quips and cranks and wanton wiles, nods and becks quips and cranks and wanton wiles, nods and becks and wreathed smiles" [Milton]. entertainer, showman, showgirl; dancer, tap dancer, song-and-dance man; vaudeville act; singer; musician etc. 416.    sportsman, gamester, reveler; master of ceremonies, master of revels; pompom girl^†; arbiter elegantiarum [Lat.]; arbiter bibendi [Lat.], archer, fan [U.S.], toxophilite^†, turfman^†.    ... show more

Roget 315: agitation, stir, tremor, shake, ripple, jog, jolt, jar, jerk, shock, succussion^†, trepidation, quiver, quaver, dance; jactitation^†, quassation^†; shuffling etc. v.; twitter, flicker, flutter.    turbulence, perturbation; commotion, turmoil, disquiet; tumult, tumultuation^†; hubbub, rout, bustle, fuss, racket, subsultus^†, staggers, megrims, epilepsy, fits; carphology^†, chorea, floccillation^†, the jerks, St.    Vitus's dance, tilmus^†.    spasm, throe, throb, palpitation, convulsion.    disturbance, chaos etc. (disorder) 59; restlessness etc. (changeableness) 149.    ferment, fermentation; ebullition, effervescence, hurly-burly, cahotage^†; tempest, storm, ground swell, heavy sea, whirlpool, vortex etc. 312; whirlwind etc. (wind) 349.    ... show more

Roget 314: oscillation; vibration, libration; motion of a pendulum; nutation; undulation; pulsation; pulse.    alternation; coming and going etc. v.; ebb and flow, flux and reflux, ups and down.    fluctuation; vacillation etc. (irresolution) 605.    wave, vibratiuncle^†, swing, beat, shake, wag, seesaw, dance, lurch, dodge; logan^†, loggan^†, rocking-stone, vibroscope^†.    ... show more

A party of people assembled for dancing.

Taking a series of rhythmical steps (and movements) in time to music.

synonyms: dancing, saltation, terpsichore.

Dutch: dans, dansen
Polish: taniec, tan

A party for social dancing.

Dutch: dansfeest
Polish: balety, potańcówka, tańce, zabawa

Move in a graceful and rhythmical way.

Roget 838: rejoice, thank one's stars, bless one's stars; congratulate oneself, hug oneself; rub one's hands, clap one's hands; smack the lips, fling up one's cap; dance, skip; sing, carol, chirrup, chirp; hurrah; cry for joy, jump for joy, leap with joy; exult etc. (boast) 884; triumph; hold jubilee etc. (celebrate) 883; make merry etc. (sport) 840.    laugh, raise laughter etc. (amuse) 840.    ... show more

Roget 315: be agitated &c.; shake; tremble, tremble like an aspen leaf; quiver, quaver, quake, shiver, twitter, twire^†, writhe, toss, shuffle, tumble, stagger, bob, reel, sway, wag, waggle; wriggle, wriggle like an eel; dance, stumble, shamble, flounder, totter, flounce, flop, curvet, prance, cavort [U.S.]; squirm.    throb, pulsate, beat, palpitate, go pitapat; flutter, flitter, flicker, bicker; bustle.    ferment, effervesce, foam; boil, boil over; bubble up; simmer.    toss about, jump about; jump like a parched pea; shake like an aspen leaf; shake to its center, shake to its foundations; be the sport of the winds and waves; reel to and fro like a drunken man; move from post to pillar and from pillar to move from post to pillar and from pillar to post, drive from post to pillar and from pillar to drive from post to pillar and from pillar to post, keep between hawk and buzzard.    agitate, shake, convulse, toss, tumble, bandy, wield, brandish, flap, flourish, whisk, jerk, hitch, jolt; jog, joggle, jostle, buffet, hustle, disturb, stir, shake up, churn, jounce, wallop, whip, vellicate^†.    ... show more

Roget 314: oscillate; vibrate, librate^†; alternate, undulate, wave; rock, swing; pulsate, beat; wag, waggle; nod, bob, courtesy, curtsy; tick; play; wamble^†, wabble^†; dangle, swag.    fluctuate, dance, curvet, reel, quake; quiver, quaver; shake, flicker; wriggle; roll, toss, pitch; flounder, stagger, totter; move up and down, bob up and down etc. adv.; pass and repass, ebb and flow, come and go; vacillate etc. 605; teeter [U.S.].    brandish, shake, flourish.    ... show more

Roget 840: amuse, entertain, divert, enliven; tickle the fancy; titillate, raise a smile, put in good humor; cause laughter, create laughter, occasion laughter, raise laughter, excite laughter, produce laughter, convulse with laughter; set the table in a roar, be the death of one.    recreate, solace, cheer, rejoice; please etc. 829; interest; treat, regale.    amuse oneself, game; play a game, play pranks, play tricks; sport, disport, toy, wanton, revel, junket, feast, carouse, banquet, make merry, drown care; drive dull care away; frolic, gambol, frisk, romp; caper; dance etc. (leap) 309; keep up the ball; run a rig, sow one's wild oats, have one's fling, take one's pleasure; paint the town red [Slang]; see life; desipere in loco [Lat.], play the fool.    make holiday, keep holiday; go a Maying.    while away the time, beguile the time; kill time, dally.    smile, simper, smirk; grin, grin like a Cheshire cat; mock, laugh in one's sleeve; laugh, laugh outright; giggle, titter, snigger, crow, snicker, chuckle, cackle; burst out, burst into a fit of laughter; shout, split, roar.    shake one's sides, split one's sides, hold both one's sides; roar with laughter, die with laughter.    ... show more

Move in a pattern; usually to musical accompaniment; do or perform a dance:
— My husband and I like to dance at home to the radio.

synonyms: trip the light fantastic, trip the light fantastic toe.

Roget 309: leap; jump up, jump over the moon; hop, spring, bound, vault, ramp, cut capers, trip, skip, dance, caper; buck, buck jump; curvet, caracole; foot it, bob, bounce, flounce, start; frisk etc. (amusement) 840; jump about etc. (agitation) 315; trip it on the light fantastic toe, trip the light fantastic, dance oneself off one's legs, dance off one's shoes.    ... show more

Dutch: dansen

Skip, leap, or move up and down or sideways.