as in rigamarole
language marked by abstractions, jargon, euphemisms, and circumlocutions
instead of simply denying our request, the mayor's representative gave us a song and dance about legal issues and municipal liability
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of song and dance
The story of the song and dance is a little convoluted.
—
Mark Gray, People.com, 3 July 2025
Marc, never again will there be our little outbursts of song and dance.
—Jessica Lynch, Billboard, 3 June 2025
At first, Elsbeth watches Retta and her co-horts belt out the lyrics and move around her, before it’s revealed just how the song and dance routine is taking place.
—Vlada Gelman, TVLine, 6 May 2025
Molina’s stories are portrayed in colorful song and dance.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 25 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for song and dance
Mark Gray, People.com, 3 July 2025
Marc, never again will there be our little outbursts of song and dance.
—Jessica Lynch, Billboard, 3 June 2025
At first, Elsbeth watches Retta and her co-horts belt out the lyrics and move around her, before it’s revealed just how the song and dance routine is taking place.
—Vlada Gelman, TVLine, 6 May 2025
Molina’s stories are portrayed in colorful song and dance.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 25 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for song and dance
Recent Examples of Synonyms for song and dance
Noun
-
Her Bluesky feed in the hours after Kirk’s murder was filled with inflammatory rhetoric.—
Brady Knox,
The Washington Examiner,
16 Sep. 2025
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While detailing the first in-person meeting between her and Rodríguez, Pascal spoke about the specific rhetoric that trans actors sometimes come up against, which is that trans actors should connect with trans subjects based solely on identity, rather than the many other aspects of their humanity.—
Mathew Rodriguez,
Them.,
15 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
No rigamarole or bureaucracy to navigate.—
Andy Meek,
Forbes.com,
31 Aug. 2025
-
The bust was followed by months of prolonged legal rigmarole.—
John Semley,
Rolling Stone,
19 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Bob Kring DeBary Congressional bill is full of greed The Great Big Beautiful Bill reads like 950 pages of of gobbledygook distilled into four words: Greedy, stingy, mean and short-sighted.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
2 July 2025
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The six-episode limited series feels like a long movie broken into arbitrary episodes, its ending is mired by digital gobbledygook, and Marvel still doesn’t know how magic makes sense in a universe ruled by advanced technology and literal gods.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
24 June 2025
Noun
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My last thought, here, beware of the endless gibberish about the hazards of rotations.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
24 Aug. 2025
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Her toddler, who was almost two, leaned over the railing and called out to the agents in baby gibberish, but the agents did not acknowledge her.—
Jordan Salama,
New Yorker,
25 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Song and dance.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/song%20and%20dance. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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