rock and roll
107
1.8
- noun
- /rɑk ənd roʊl/
:
rock and roll
- Rock and roll's been goin' downhill ever since Buddy Holly died.
- rock and roll music
- rock and roll style
- jazz and rock and roll
Examples
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Elvis Presley is often called the king of rock and roll for his influence in the genre.
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Through film and record imports, rock and roll reached Brazil soon after its emergence in the United States.
Academic text (1990) -
Are you ready for rock and roll?
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Best time for rock and roll.
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You like rock and roll?
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As the driver rolls down his window, classic rock and roll music can be heard from inside.
Fiction book (1996) -
I hope there's a future for rock and roll.
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A man from the Midwest, with a vision of the future of rock and roll.
Fiction book (2000) -
In the last half of the twentieth century, rock and roll was introduced to the masses.
Academic text (2010) -
Traditional Afrikaans songs and symbols were reworked and presented in rock and roll style.
Academic text (2004)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A style of popular music with strong guitar and drum sounds
552
3.0
A style of popular music from the 1950s with a strong beat
33
1.6
Popular songs with loud electric guitars and a strong beat
4
2.6
Popular music from 1950s America with a strong beat and simple tunes
1
2.5
A lively style of popular music from 1950s America that mixes blues and country
How Energetic
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although the words 'rock' and 'and' are transparent, the compound name 'rock and roll' is a conventionalized label for a specific music genre whose full meaning and cultural associations are not directly predictable from the literal meanings of the constituents (and 'roll' here does not transparently signal the musical sense). Many learners who already know 'rock' as music or who have seen the phrase as a loanword will recognize it as a genre, but an average B1 learner who only knows the separate word meanings would not reliably derive the precise genre sense without prior exposure.
Etymology
Rock and roll comes from an old image of motion: rock meant to move back and forth and roll to turn or dance. One popular story says early singers and radio people used the words to describe songs that made listeners 'move' and 'dance', so the name came to mean the energetic music style of the 1950s.