Phrase guide

rock music

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: /ˈɹɑk ˈmjuzɪk/
  • UK: /ˈɹɒk ˈmjuːzɪk/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A broad genre of popular music, including especially those styles ultimately derived from rock and roll, employing electrical amplification, heavy use of guitars, 4/4 time with strong percussive rhythm on beats two and four (backbeat), and usually themes of bold wildness, rebellion, and sexuality.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a genre of popular music originating in the 1950s; a blend of black rhythm-and-blues with white country-and-western

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • rock is a generic term for the range of styles that evolved out of rock'n'roll.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: rock 'n' roll, rock'n'roll, rock-and-roll, rock and roll, rock

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: popular music, popular music genre

Narrower terms: heavy metal, heavy metal music, progressive rock, art rock, psychedelic rock, acid rock, punk rock, punk

History

Etymology

Shortening of rock and roll music, in use since circa 1966 to refer to genres of popular music which had grown sufficiently distinct from 1950s rock and roll.

Across languages

Translations

97 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: rockmusiek — popular music genre
  • Arabic: مُوسِيقَى الرُّوك (mūsīqā r-rūk) — popular music genre
  • Arabic: رُوك (rūk) — popular music genre
  • Arabic: رُوك (rok) — popular music genre
  • Armenian: ռոք (ṙokʻ) — popular music genre
  • Asturian: rock — popular music genre
  • Azerbaijani: rok — popular music genre
  • Azerbaijani: rok musiqisi — popular music genre
  • Bashkir: рок (rok) — popular music genre
  • Belarusian: рок-му́зыка (rok-múzyka) — popular music genre
  • Bengali: রক সঙ্গীত (rok śoṅgit) — popular music genre
  • Breton: sonerezh rock — popular music genre
  • Bulgarian: рок му́зика (rok múzika) — popular music genre
  • Burmese: ရော့ခ်ဂီတ (rauhk.gita.) — popular music genre
  • Carpathian Rusyn: рок-му́зика (rok-múzyka) — popular music genre
  • Catalan: música rock — popular music genre
  • Chinese Mandarin: 搖滾音樂 /摇滚音乐 (yáogǔn yīnyuè) — popular music genre
  • Chinese Mandarin: 搖滾樂 /摇滚乐 (yáogǔnyuè) — popular music genre
  • Chuvash: рок-мусӑк (rok-mus̬ăk) — popular music genre
  • Czech: rock — popular music genre
  • Danish: rock — popular music genre
  • Dutch: rockmuziek — popular music genre
  • Esperanto: rokmuziko — popular music genre
  • Esperanto: roko — popular music genre
  • Esperanto: rok-muziko — popular music genre
  • Estonian: rokk — popular music genre
  • Estonian: rokkmuusika — popular music genre
  • Finnish: rokki — popular music genre
  • French: rock — popular music genre
  • French: musique rock — popular music genre
  • West-Frisian: rockmuzyk — popular music genre
  • Galician: música rock — popular music genre
  • Georgian: როკ-მუსიკა (roḳ-musiḳa) — popular music genre
  • German: Rockmusik — popular music genre
  • Greek: ροκ μουσική (rok mousikí) — popular music genre
  • Hebrew: מוזיקת רוק (múzikat rok) — popular music genre
  • Hindi: रॉक (rŏk) — popular music genre
  • Hungarian: rockzene — popular music genre
  • Hungarian: rock — popular music genre
  • Icelandic: rokk — popular music genre
  • Ido: rock — popular music genre
  • Indonesian: musik rok — popular music genre
  • Interlingua: rock — popular music genre
  • Irish: rac-cheol — popular music genre
  • Italian: rock — popular music genre
  • Jamaican Creole: rak myuuzik — popular music genre
  • Japanese: ロック音楽 (rokku ongaku) — popular music genre
  • Japanese: ロック (rokku) — popular music genre
  • Kazakh: рок-музыка (rok-muzyka) — popular music genre
  • Korean: 락 음악 (rak eumak) — popular music genre
  • Korean: 락 (rak) — popular music genre
  • Latin: rockiana — popular music genre
  • Latin: rociana — popular music genre
  • Latin: rockianus — popular music genre
  • Latin: rocianus — popular music genre
  • Latin: musica rock — popular music genre
  • Latvian: rokmūzika — popular music genre
  • Latvian: roks — popular music genre
  • Lithuanian: rokas — popular music genre
  • Luxembourgish: Rockmusek — popular music genre
  • Macedonian: рок-музика (rok-muzika) — popular music genre
  • Malay: muzik rock — popular music genre
  • Malayalam: റോക്ക് (ṟōkkŭ) — popular music genre
  • Marathi: रॉक संगीत (rŏk saṅgīt) — popular music genre
  • Mongolian: рок хөгжим (rok xögžim) — popular music genre
  • Nepali: रक सङ्गीत (rak saṅgīt) — popular music genre
  • Norwegian Bokmål: rockemusikk — popular music genre
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: rockemusikk — popular music genre
  • Iranian Persian: موسیقیِ راک (musiġi-ye râk) — popular music genre
  • Iranian Persian: راک (râk) — popular music genre
  • Polish: rock — popular music genre
  • Portuguese: rock — popular music genre
  • Punjabi: ਰੌਕ ਸੰਗੀਤ (rauk saṅgīt) — popular music genre
  • Punjabi: روک مُوسِیقِی (rok mūsīqī) — popular music genre
  • Romanian: muzică rock — popular music genre
  • Russian: рок-му́зыка (rok-múzyka) — popular music genre
  • Russian: рок (rok) — popular music genre
  • Scottish Gaelic: roc — popular music genre
  • Serbo-Croatian: рок глазба — popular music genre
  • Serbo-Croatian: рок музика — popular music genre
  • Serbo-Croatian: рок — popular music genre
  • Sinhalese: රොක් සංගීතය (rok saṁgītaya) — popular music genre
  • Slovak: rock — popular music genre
  • Slovak: rok — popular music genre
  • Slovene: rock — popular music genre
  • Swedish: rockmusik — popular music genre
  • Tamil: ராக் இசை (rāk icai) — popular music genre
  • Thai: ร็อก (rɔ́k) — popular music genre
  • Thai: เพลงร็อก — popular music genre
  • Turkish: rock müzik — popular music genre
  • Ukrainian: рок-му́зика (rok-múzyka) — popular music genre
  • Urdu: راک مُوسِیقِی (rāk mūsīqī) — popular music genre
  • Uzbek: rok-musiqa — popular music genre
  • Vietnamese: nhạc rock — popular music genre
  • Vietnamese: rock — popular music genre
  • Welsh: cerddoriaeth roc — popular music genre
  • West Flemish: rockmuziek — popular music genre