rock and roll

1 of 2

noun

ˌrä-kən-ˈrōl 

variants or rock 'n' roll

: popular music usually played on electronically amplified instruments and characterized by a persistent heavily accented beat, repetition of simple phrases, and often country, folk, and blues elements : rock entry 2 sense 2

If many older people had been suspicious of the jukebox in the early fifties, they were even more affronted by the success of rock and roll after 1954.

—Dominic Sandbrook

The industry has changed. Is it no longer sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll?

—AP News

—often used before another noun

rock and roll legends/albums

… Jack is in his corset, Jane is in her vest. And me, I'm in a rock 'n' roll band …

—The Velvet Underground

rock and roll

2 of 2

verb

rocked and rolled; rocking and rolling; rock and rolls

intransitive verb

1

: to perform or dance to rock and roll music

Mark headed off to Liverpool over the weekend, where he did a little rocking and rolling.

—Paula Zahn

2

informal : to start out or get going energetically

He was wide awake and ready to rock and roll at 5:00 A.M.

—Gideon Wulff

… an overwhelming majority of the U.S. population has a primal desire to unfold a badass pair of shades, slide them onto their head … throw a jacket over their shoulder, and utter, "let's rock and roll."

—The Onion

Examples of rock and roll in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Country struggled to reconcile conservative interests with a much wider base of artists and listeners while rock and roll and dance music stretched past their boundaries, occasionally co-mingling. —Vulture Editors, Vulture, 13 Dec. 2024

After the disco/dance/house masterpiece Renaissance and its subsequent world tour, Bey completely shifted gears with Cowboy Carter, an album deftly mixing country, Americana, rock and roll, bluegrass, and other Southern styles of music. —Keke Palmer, EW.com, 12 Dec. 2024

Verb

Simone Jackson: The Underground Disco Icon The world of Daisy Jones & The Six isn’t all rock and roll. —Halie Lesavage, Harper's BAZAAR, 6 Mar. 2023

Hedi Slimane, the current creative director of the French fashion house Celine, has always had a knack for the aesthetics of the rock and roll lifestyle: tight silhouettes here, leather there, and the use of large aviator sunglasses everywhere. —Isiah Magsino, Town & Country, 6 Mar. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1954, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1956, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

rock-and-roll

noun

: rock entry 2 sense 2