How to Use rumba in a Sentence

rumba

noun
  • The band played a rumba.
  • Cha cha is such a hard dance to learn, and so is the rumba.
    Kelly Wynne, Peoplemag, 19 Oct. 2022
  • Tom can quote Rilke and dance the rumba, whip up brunch and a rose-petal bath, but so what?
    Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 24 Sep. 2021
  • Shumpert and Karagach followed up the first week with a rumba, and the judges warmed up.
    Washington Post, 14 Oct. 2021
  • For those 18 and older who love rumba, live music and a DJ will set the scene for a night of dancing from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.
    Nadia Cantú, The Arizona Republic, 3 Mar. 2022
  • There is a big rumba influence on it, with this baile funk rhythm.
    Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 21 Oct. 2022
  • That leaves Bonner & Sharna and Nick & Peta to do the rumba.
    Amy Watts, baltimoresun.com, 2 May 2017
  • Well, rumba is good for both of these couples because the guy is sexy and the women are used to dancing around them.
    Amy Watts, baltimoresun.com, 2 May 2017
  • Country star Jimmie Allen danced the rumba to his own song with partner Emma Slater for a 27 out of 40.
    Karen Mizoguchi, PEOPLE.com, 27 Sep. 2021
  • The style of the show mixes modern dance and hip-hop rather than Cuba's famous rumba and ballet.
    National Geographic, 12 Dec. 2016
  • The style of the show mixes modern dance and hip-hop rather than Cuba's famous rumba and ballet.
    National Geographic, 12 Dec. 2016
  • Brown got her hips working on a sensuous rumba in round one.
    Hal Boedeker, orlandosentinel.com, 18 Nov. 2019
  • On the third Friday, anything goes: waltz, foxtrot, rumba, cha-cha.
    Susan Dunne, courant.com, 7 May 2018
  • Two of Cruz’s ​​Cuban rumba dresses, known as bata cubana, and a pair of gold shoes are part of the museum’s collections.
    Jacquelyne Germain, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Nov. 2022
  • Or maybe like a rumba — that could be really fun and flavorful.
    Marcus Jones, EW.com, 16 Sep. 2019
  • So, how this is going to work: The high scorers get to pick their dance-off opponent and the low scorers get to pick the dance style, choosing from cha cha, jive, or rumba.
    Amy Watts, baltimoresun.com, 2 May 2017
  • When Inaba gave a few sharp pointers to Brown during rehearsals for the rumba, Brown began to cry.
    Mary Colurso | McOlurso@al.com, al, 19 Nov. 2019
  • Meanwhile, Brian and pro/girlfriend Sharna Burgess did the rumba and were rewarded 23 out of 40 for their score, a point lower than Kenya.
    Selena Barrientos, Good Housekeeping, 3 Oct. 2021
  • Monday's rumba marked a vast improvement for Slater and Donovan.
    Dory Jackson, Peoplemag, 27 Sep. 2022
  • That led a friend of a friend to put us in touch with some people who run a music cooperative in the city of Matanzas, about 55 miles east of Havana and best known as the birthplace of danzón and rumba.
    Karen Schwartz, The Denver Post, 6 Apr. 2017
  • At night, travelers can check out the island’s nightlife and dance to the beats of salsa, merengue, and rumba, and of course try some Blue Curaçao, the island’s famous liqueur that’s used to make cocktails a bright, vibrant blue.
    Erica Lamberg, USA TODAY, 14 Jan. 2020
  • Image The Congolese pop best known worldwide is the re-Africanized rumba that defines styles like soukous and kwassa kwassa.
    Jon Pareles, New York Times, 3 July 2018
  • Her dance partner, Slavi Baylov, 41, greeted her with flowers and led her onto the dance floor for a jaunty rumba followed by an elegant fox trot.
    Corey Kilgannon, New York Times, 21 Feb. 2018
  • Partners spin around the room, their steps a passport of global styles: Colombian salsa, Cuban rumba, Spanish flamenco.
    San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 May 2019
  • Some enter competitions, instructors say, but most are there simply to learn the rumba, cha-cha, tango, waltz, salsa or fox trot.
    Livia Albeck-Ripka, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2023
  • Normally on weekends, there was rumba playing all over the neighborhood.
    Griselda Flores, Billboard, 10 Feb. 2021
  • But its guitar grooves are a Pan-African blend, drawing on the thumb-pianolike guitar picking of older Zimbabwean pop, on the lilting rumba of Congolese soukous and on hints of rock.
    Jon Pareles, New York Times, 1 May 2017
  • Both are also among pop’s most savvy beat-seekers, finding and combining rhythms old and new — merengue, rumba, cumbia, samba, paseo, rock, disco, hip-house, reggaeton — to keep fans dancing now.
    Jon Pareles, New York Times, 2 Feb. 2020
  • Congolese musicians started to put their own spin on son, developing a style dubbed Congolese rumba.
    Elias Leight, Rolling Stone, 4 June 2021
  • As Ghidini and Louisy performed their sinuous rumba, another pair of men began dancing in the opposite corner of the room.
    Britt Peterson, Washington Post, 8 July 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rumba.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: