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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

dance to a new tune en · VERB

Meanings

  1. To significantly change one's opinion, attitude, or behavior.
    • I can make neutrons dance to a new tune, but I shrink from telling a human tick to fasten onto someone else. 2011, Bob Shaw, The Peace Machine, →ISBN:
    • Policy was to be bold, not timid; campaign promises were to be carried out, not cynically shelved; and the public service would dance to a new tune, one where the ministers called the tune. 1991, J. L. Granatstein, Robert Bothwell, Pirouette: Pierre Trudeau and Canadian Foreign Policy, →ISBN, page 207:
    • We must ask God to give us strength to dance to a new tune. 2005, Louis Adams, Diary of a Shattered Spirit, →ISBN, page 46:
    • As a result, the Japanese found themselves having to dance to a new tune and it was one they were scarcely familiar with. 2008, Ian Nish, The Iwakura Mission to America and Europe: A New Assessment, →ISBN:
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see dance, new, tune.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
danced to a new tune Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
danced to a new tune Tense=Past lexicographic
dancing to a new tune Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
dances to a new tune Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic