1
: rhythm characterized by strong syncopation in the melody with a regularly accented accompaniment in stride-piano style
2
: music having ragtime rhythm
Examples of ragtime in a Sentence
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The show starts calmly with the dapper musician Coalhouse Walker Jr. astride his piano bench, playing a gentle, lilting ragtime melody.
—
Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 9 May 2025
Image The first tutorial video introduces early 20th-century ballroom dances popularized by Vernon and Irene Castle, white influencers of their day who borrowed from Black dances and collaborated with the Black ragtime musician James Reese Europe.
—Yuvraj Khanna, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2025
Best known as a savvy drummer deeply versed in a broad swath of pre-World War II idioms like ragtime, Delta blues, and swing, Devine is at home surrounded by the artifacts and ephemera that captured the sounds and spirit of that era.
—Andrew Gilbert, Mercury News, 1 May 2025
It was first pieced together in New Orleans by the cornetist King Buddy Bolden, who was born the year Reconstruction ended, and who drew on both the Blues traditions of Black evangelical churches and the ragtime of French-speaking Creole Black musicians.
—Elizabeth Alexander, Time, 1 Apr. 2025
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Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 9 May 2025
Image The first tutorial video introduces early 20th-century ballroom dances popularized by Vernon and Irene Castle, white influencers of their day who borrowed from Black dances and collaborated with the Black ragtime musician James Reese Europe.
—Yuvraj Khanna, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2025
Best known as a savvy drummer deeply versed in a broad swath of pre-World War II idioms like ragtime, Delta blues, and swing, Devine is at home surrounded by the artifacts and ephemera that captured the sounds and spirit of that era.
—Andrew Gilbert, Mercury News, 1 May 2025
It was first pieced together in New Orleans by the cornetist King Buddy Bolden, who was born the year Reconstruction ended, and who drew on both the Blues traditions of Black evangelical churches and the ragtime of French-speaking Creole Black musicians.
—Elizabeth Alexander, Time, 1 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ragtime
Cite this Entry
“Ragtime.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ragtime. Accessed 21 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
ragtime
noun
rag·time
ˈrag-ˌtīm 
1
: music played with a strong march-style rhythm and a lively melody with accented notes falling on beats that are not usually accented
2
: music having ragtime rhythm
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