VocabauraVOCABAURA

samba

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A Brazilian musical genre, to which the aforementioned dance is danced, which has its roots in West Africa via the slave trade.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sahmbuh

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsɑmbə

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. music

    A Brazilian musical genre, to which the aforementioned dance is danced, which has its roots in West Africa via the slave trade.

  2. dance

    A lively ballroom dance from Brazil

  3. dance

    A Brazilian ballroom dance or dance style.

verb

  1. Dance the samba

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A Brazilian musical genre, to which the aforementioned dance is danced, which has its roots in West Africa via the slave trade.

Used this way, samba is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a musical use: it is everyday language among musicians and listeners, and specialised outside that.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Music/performance
  • Arts writing

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use samba

  • “They learned to dance the samba with rhythmic, energetic steps.”

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “samba”. We review each one before it appears.

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “samba” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

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.