Reggae
/ˈɹɛɡeɪ/ noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s and is heavily associated with Rastafarianism, featuring a heavy bass line and percussive rhythm guitar on the offbeat, often with close vocal harmonies. Rastafari, uncountable
"Near-synonym: (earlier) bluebeat"
- 2 popular music originating in the West Indies; repetitive bass riffs and regular chords played on the off beat by a guitar wordnet
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"I heard some reggae music playing in the distance."
Etymology
From Jamaican Creole rege (“rags; a quarrel”), see rag; originally used in the 1960s to describe a Jamaican dance. Compare ragtime. Broader musical sense popularized by the 1968 Maytals song “Do the Reggay”.