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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of song and dance
Before long, smitten cast members, including Sarah Sherman and a cameraman wearing an I (Heart) Harry shirt who kept focusing on Styles, proved too much for Gosling, who called off a big song and dance number featuring most of the cast in silver space attire.
—
Omar L. Gallaga, Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2026
Not his first blockbuster deal This isn’t Gore’s first time doing the song and dance of being traded.
—Sportsday Staff, Dallas Morning News, 22 Jan. 2026
Just stop with this whole song and dance between Kuminga and Steve Kerr.
—Zach Harper, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2026
New Year's Eve is just around the corner, and what's a more Nashville way to ring in 2026 than through song and dance?
—Audrey Gibbs, Nashville Tennessean, 26 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for song and dance
Omar L. Gallaga, Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2026
Not his first blockbuster deal This isn’t Gore’s first time doing the song and dance of being traded.
—Sportsday Staff, Dallas Morning News, 22 Jan. 2026
Just stop with this whole song and dance between Kuminga and Steve Kerr.
—Zach Harper, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2026
New Year's Eve is just around the corner, and what's a more Nashville way to ring in 2026 than through song and dance?
—Audrey Gibbs, Nashville Tennessean, 26 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for song and dance
Recent Examples of Synonyms for song and dance
Noun
-
Hyper-aggressive rhetoric on social media, political extremism, and the normalization of violence are certainly contributing factors.—
Andrew Cuomo,
New York Daily News,
2 May 2026
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Perhaps, as more and more people on the right echo white-supremacist rhetoric, some lawmakers might actually just start saying the thing out loud, and the courts will have to act.—
Vann R. Newkirk II,
The Atlantic,
2 May 2026
Noun
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And the rigmarole of international travel is a very good reason.—
R. Eric Thomas,
Chicago Tribune,
18 Apr. 2026
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There is a lot of rigmarole there that is conveniently hidden when positing this as a common sense thing.—
Mikey O'Connell,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The prompts must make sense and cannot just be gobbledygook.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
11 Apr. 2026
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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
Noun
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Kid Rock kicked off the first show of his Freedom 250 Tour in Dallas with a pre-show hype video featuring himself and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth riding in twin Apache helicopters.—
Jack Dunn,
Variety,
2 May 2026
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Why this game between two teams whose meetings often fail to live up to the hype and who, entertainment-wise during 2025-26, have hardly been thrill-a-minute?—
Oliver Kay,
New York Times,
1 May 2026
Noun
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And these worlds aren’t even real, just ones and zeros merged to form a network of communication that sometimes feels like incoherent gibberish.—
Brandon Kaipo Moningka,
Los Angeles Times,
8 Apr. 2026
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Legal gibberish Let’s start with those last two words.—
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board,
The Orlando Sentinel,
29 Mar. 2026
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 4 May. 2026.
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