jazz
verb · noun
Simple meaning
A type of music with African American roots
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
jazIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdʒæz
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Play something in the style of jazz
To dance to the tunes of jazz music.
To play (jazz music).
To enliven, brighten up, make more colourful or exciting.
intransitiveslang
To move (around/about) in a lively or frivolous manner; to fool around.
noun
music
A musical art form rooted in West African cultural and musical expression and in the African American blues tradition, with diverse influences over time, commonly characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms and improvisation.
A diminutive of the female given name Jasmine.
A diminutive of the male given name James.
figurative
Energy, excitement, excitability.
The substance or makeup of a thing; unspecified thing(s).
with positive terms
Something of excellent quality, the genuine article.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Play something in the style of jazz
Used this way, jazz is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Wander aimlessly in search of pleasure.
A small band of jazz musicians.
A festival that features performances by jazz artists.
A small band of jazz musicians.
A musician who plays or composes jazz music.
Make more interesting or lively.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.