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Examples of work song in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
For those who are unaware of what a sea shanty is, its a type of work song that were sung to the beat of rhythmical labor on large merchant ships.
—Rania Aniftos, Billboard, 21 Jan. 2021
Thursday’s concert will do the same, highlighting Scottish work songs.
—Beth Wood, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Jan. 2024
The program embraces both classic and contemporary music and touches on work songs, folk songs, blues, traditional synagogue music, gospel music, funk, hip-hop and symphonic music, and a slew of other genres.
—Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 8 Jan. 2024
There were work songs, through which incarcerated people could occupy their voices and their minds while their bodies toiled.
—Hanif Abdurraqib, The New Yorker, 2 Oct. 2023
Born out of Black American communities, traditional African storytelling, Caribbean music and work songs from the period of enslavement, rap made its way into the Korean music scene in the 1990s, shortly after the American music industry began its hip-hop feeding frenzy.
—Zoe Glasser, Washington Post, 22 July 2023
Long before the conversation around Black incarceration and prison reform, Belafonte recorded an album of chain gang work songs such as the jailor classic co-penned by folk musicologist Alan Lomax, along with Vera Hall, John Lomax, and Ruby Pickens Tartt.
—A.d. Amorosi, Variety, 25 Apr. 2023
The whole hour is just this sort of chilling: percussive work songs, big-bottomed gospel, moaning blues, dramatically spare sets that imply segregation and incarceration, the weather system that called herself Odetta.
—Wesley Morris, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2023
One, for instance, depicts a famous moment when the Golden Girls are stuffing chickens and Betty White's Rose leads them through a work song.
—Duante Beddingfield, Detroit Free Press, 10 Feb. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'work song.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1841, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near work song
Cite this Entry
“Work song.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/work%20song. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.
More from Merriam-Webster on work song
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about work song
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