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Glite Dictionary
🍫 A story character 🎺 A bouncy rhythm 🧑‍🎤 A band musician
oompa

oompa

9.7
A lively, bouncy rhythm used in brass or folk music
  • noun
  • /ˈuːmpə/
translation icon : oompa
  • And oompa, oompa, oompa, the bellows!

Examples

  • To the left, Bosley starts playing oompa OOMPA oompa OOMPA on a wrap-around tuba.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • And oompa, oompa, oompa, the bellows!

    The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949)

  • And oompa, oompa, oompa, the bellows!

    The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949)

  • The cheerful band played an oompa tune that got everyone dancing.

  • We could hear the lively oompa music coming from the festival across the field.

  • She enjoyed the oompa rhythm of the brass band as they marched through the parade.

Synonyms

oompah
vsoompa
2 9.2

Music with a strong repeated brass beat often played by bands

is broader, highlighting a lively upbeat style beyond just brass repetition

Surface Forms

oompa singular
oompas plural

Etymology

Oompa comes from the musical sound oom-pah, which copies the low 'oom' of a tuba and the short 'pah' of a horn. So oompa means the lively, two-part beat you hear in brass bands and folk tunes.