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Glite Dictionary
to trip the light fantastic

to trip the light fantastic

1 9.9
Dance in a lively, graceful way to music
  • idiom
  • Archaic
translation icon : bailar
  • After dinner, they decided to trip the light fantastic and show off their dance moves.

Examples

  • At a conservative guess, we're 850 lbs of inertia tripping the light fantastic, with the engine rising and falling through the turns like a Wagner opera.

    Blog text (32)

  • LOOK, YOU WANNA TRIP THE LIGHT FANTASTIC?

    Tempest (1982)

  • All right, let's trip the light fantastic, baby.

    The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

  • If you ever want to trip the light fantastic and talk about some of your favorite brands, give me a call.

    Blog text (18)

  • Eyes seem to flip when you trip the light fantastic.

    I Love Melvin (1953)

  • Though I don't have many opportunities to trip the light fantastic.

    Ode to Billy Joe (1976)

  • We've tripped the light fantastic.

    The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy (2000)

  • The real me was out there in tights, tripping the light fantastic for a bunch.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Sixteen hours before, he had been at the USMC Birthday Ball at the Hotel Continental in Paris, tripping the light fantastic with his wife.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • At the party, everyone was eager to trip the light fantastic to the lively music.

Synonyms

to dance
vsto trip the light fantastic
∞ 1.0

To move your body in time to music

is the specific phrase for lively, graceful movement to music
to boogie
vsto trip the light fantastic
  • Informal
28 7.5

Dance energetically to lively upbeat music

is smoother and more graceful instead of raw energetic style
to jive
vsto trip the light fantastic
7 7.6

To dance in a lively, energetic way to jazz or swing music

leans toward graceful, controlled movement rather than exaggerated energy
to boogie on down
vsto trip the light fantastic
  • Informal
1 8.8

To dance in a lively way to music

focuses more on elegance and smoothness than raw energy
to woogie
vsto trip the light fantastic
  • Informal
1 9.9

To dance in a joyful, energetic way

prioritizes refined grace and fluid movement over playful bounce
to trip the light fantastic toe
vsto trip the light fantastic
  • Archaic
9.9

To dance in a lively, elegant way to music

is the original idiomatic phrase with the same meaning
to jive to the rhythm
vsto trip the light fantastic
  • Informal
7.5

Dance quickly and happily to the beat of music

emphasizes graceful movement rather than strong rhythmic energy

Antonyms

to stand still
75 1.0

Stay upright in one place without moving

How Graceful

to glide
89 2.9
to trip the light fantastic
  • Archaic
1 9.9
to dance
∞ 1.0
to tap
44 4.1

Surface Forms

trip the light fantastic infinitive
tripped the light fantastic past
tripped the light fantastic past participle
tripping the light fantastic present participle
trips the light fantastic third person singular

Morphology

trip + the + light + fantastic

This is a poetic, idiomatic expression whose meaning ('dance lightly') is not a straightforward composition of the literal senses of its parts. 'Trip' commonly means 'stumble' to many learners, and the noun phrase 'the light fantastic' is archaic and non-compositional, so a B1 learner knowing the individual words would not reliably infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Trip the light fantastic comes from old poems where trip meant 'to move lightly' and light fantastic created the image of quick, fancy dance steps. So the phrase now means 'to dance' in a lively, graceful way.