dance of death

noun

1. a symbolic dance in which Death, represented as a skeleton, leads people or skeletons to their grave.
2. a representation of this theme in art.

dance of death

noun

1. a pictorial, literary, or musical representation, current esp in the Middle Ages, of a dance in which living people, in order of social precedence, are led off to their graves, by a personification of death Also called (French)danse macabre

Word History and Origins

Origin of dance of death¹

First recorded in 1470–80

Example Sentences

For the most part, these women indeed meet Émile, their agent of mercy, halfway — a process the director, Paul Vecchiali, depicts as an eerie, enigmatic dance of death and desire.

From New York Times

“So it’s a dance of life, which is also a dance of death. We like to think of them as separate but they’re not. They’re the same.”

From Los Angeles Times

“It is a dance of death with your opponent,” he says.

From Literature

On the dusty plains before the walls of Troy, thousands upon thousands of soldiers take part in the dance of death.

From Literature

Where the production gets more specific is in its departures from the libretto: its absence of caricature and villainy, its climactic dance of death instead a scene of stillness and life continuing in agony.

From New York Times