trip the light fantastic
verb
Simple meaning
Move in a pattern.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
tripthuhlytfantastikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɹɪpðəˈlaɪtfænˈtæstɪk
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
Move in a pattern; usually to musical accompaniment; do or perform a dance
To dance or to move rhythmically to musical accompaniment, especially in a graceful or nimble manner.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: Move in a pattern; usually to musical accompaniment; do or perform a dance
Used this way, trip the light fantastic 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
- No strong connotation
- 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.
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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.