work song

noun

: a song sung in rhythm with work

Examples of work song in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This included early American music forms, marches, spirituals, field hollers, work songs and African rhythms, as well as their musical descendants, like jazz, blues, gospel, country and rock ‘n’ roll. —Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Feb. 2025

Set to traditional Black spirituals, work songs and blues tunes, the dance performance reflects the Black experience through its story of faith and perseverance from the trials of slavery to freedom. —Suzanne Nuyen, NPR, 12 Feb. 2025

The shuffling rhythm of the guitar, the steady walking of the bass, the melismatic voice pouring out emotions: Blues is the sound of history, created by Black American musicians in the 1890s, with roots in work songs and spirituals, and later gospel. —Emma John, AFAR Media, 7 Jan. 2025

As tensions swell, various cast members sing a medley of slave work songs, blues tunes, and Negro spirituals, creating a tug of war between the past and present as the characters seek to commune with ancestral spirits. —Kalia Richardson, Rolling Stone, 29 Nov. 2024

For those who are unaware of what a sea shanty is, its a type of work song that were sung to the beat of rhythmical labor on large merchant ships. —Rania Aniftos, Billboard, 21 Jan. 2021

Thursday’s concert will do the same, highlighting Scottish work songs. —Beth Wood, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Jan. 2024

The program embraces both classic and contemporary music and touches on work songs, folk songs, blues, traditional synagogue music, gospel music, funk, hip-hop and symphonic music, and a slew of other genres. —Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 8 Jan. 2024

There were work songs, through which incarcerated people could occupy their voices and their minds while their bodies toiled. —Hanif Abdurraqib, The New Yorker, 2 Oct. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1841, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for work song

• agung
• along
• belong
• birdsong
• furlong
• headlong
• headstrong
• lifelong
• plainsong
• prolong
• sarong
• tanjong