as in rhetoric
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
As the education ministry announced the grades for tens of thousands of high school students like Doaa, there was a buzz in the air as Palestinians set off fireworks and embraced in song and dance.
—
Kareem El Damanhoury, CNN Money, 15 Nov. 2025
The film depicts her establishment of the utopian society while the Shakers worship with song and dance.
—Giana Levy, Variety, 6 Nov. 2025
This aptitude for song and dance, combined with some friend-of-a-friend magic, was enough to get Taylor an audience with two people who would change her life.
—Mikey O'Connell, HollywoodReporter, 5 Nov. 2025
Peaceful protesting with song and dance Despite the many criticisms that anti-Trump protesters came to preach, there were displays of optimism, hope and whimsy in several cities.
—Emma Bowman, NPR, 19 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for song and dance
Kareem El Damanhoury, CNN Money, 15 Nov. 2025
The film depicts her establishment of the utopian society while the Shakers worship with song and dance.
—Giana Levy, Variety, 6 Nov. 2025
This aptitude for song and dance, combined with some friend-of-a-friend magic, was enough to get Taylor an audience with two people who would change her life.
—Mikey O'Connell, HollywoodReporter, 5 Nov. 2025
Peaceful protesting with song and dance Despite the many criticisms that anti-Trump protesters came to preach, there were displays of optimism, hope and whimsy in several cities.
—Emma Bowman, NPR, 19 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for song and dance
Recent Examples of Synonyms for song and dance
Noun
-
This reform effort did not emerge from academic theory or ceremonial Sunshine Week rhetoric.—
Bobby Block,
Sun Sentinel,
13 Jan. 2026
-
Corey Perry, a newcomer to the team, is already fitting right in with his rhetoric.—
Andrew Knoll,
Daily News,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Everyone was perfectly lovely and perfectly tepid about going through the whole rigamarole again.—
Lauren Bans,
Vulture,
5 Jan. 2026
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The victors of Iraqi elections often enter a familiar rigmarole of bargaining and deal-making to form the largest parliamentary alliance and put a government in place.—
Nabil Salih,
Time,
4 Dec. 2025
Noun
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Meaningless gobbledygook to an outsider, yet powerful to those who know how to wield those sounds properly.—
Noel Murray,
Vulture,
17 Oct. 2025
-
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
Noun
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For three quarters, this game lived up to the hype.—
Justin Barrasso,
Boston Herald,
13 Jan. 2026
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Earlier in the night, host Nikki Glaser cracked a joke about the show's hype.—
Nick Romano,
Entertainment Weekly,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Vril and Agartha have thrived in part because of the way the editors mix brainrot and bigotry, disguising their ideological assaults in the fried fog of GifTok rap gibberish.—
Kieran Press-Reynolds,
Pitchfork,
24 Oct. 2025
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The strategy always involves the same ingredients: The message, called the plaintext, gets distorted (the encryption) so that anybody who intercepts it sees only garbled gibberish (the ciphertext).—
Jack Murtagh,
Scientific American,
22 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Driving the news: The statement was published only in English on the Facebook page of the Israeli Prime Minister's Office — potentially another case of double-talk by Netanyahu.—
Barak Ravid,
Axios,
27 Sep. 2024
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The GOP Senate candidate in Arizona, whose brand is a combative, never-back-down MAGA politics, has adopted a position on the issue that is nearly indistinguishable from that of double-talking Democrats.—
Rich Lowry,
National Review,
14 Apr. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Song and dance.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/song%20and%20dance. Accessed 14 Jan. 2026.
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