Meaning & use
fox-trot
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Meanings
nouncountable
A smooth ballroom dance for pairs with long gliding steps and slow and quick rhythms.
Grammar: Countable for the dance, and often spelled foxtrot.
Patterns
- dance a fox-trot
They danced a fox-trot at the wedding.
The band played a slow fox-trot.
Learning the fox-trot takes patience.
nouncountablemusic
A piece of music written for this dance.
Grammar: Refers to the music.
The orchestra opened with a lively fox-trot.
Her grandfather loved old fox-trots.
nounpropermilitary
A code word for the letter F in radio spelling alphabets.
Grammar: Capitalized when used as a code word: Foxtrot.
The pilot read the code as Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot.
The sergeant said 'Foxtrot' to spell the name.
verbintransitive
To dance the fox-trot.
Grammar: No object: they fox-trotted across the floor.
They fox-trotted around the ballroom.
Couples fox-trot to the old records.
Word forms
| plural | fox-trots |
|---|---|
| past tense | fox-trotted |
| -ing form | fox-trotting |
Common combinations
- dance the fox-trot
- We danced the fox-trot in class.
- learn the fox-trot
- She learned the fox-trot for her wedding.
- slow fox-trot
- The slow fox-trot is graceful.
- fox-trot rhythm
- The song has a fox-trot rhythm.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
Commonly confused: fox-trot or foxtrot? fox-trot or fox trot (horse gait)?
fox-trot vs foxtrot
Foxtrot and fox-trot are the same word with different spellings.
fox-trot vs fox trot (horse gait)
The fox trot is also a horse's gait, which differs from the dance.
Practice
Which dance is often learned in ballroom classes and has smooth, gliding steps?
Choose one answer.
The fox-trot is a smooth ballroom dance. The polka and jig are livelier folk dances, and the haka is a Maori ceremonial dance.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fox-trot”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.