dance with the devil

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

To cooperate or interact with someone or something dangerous

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

hợp tác hoặc tương tác với ai đó hoặc điều gì nguy hiểm

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: to dance with the devil
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

She was dancing with the devil when she invested in that shady business

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “dance with the devil” mean?

To cooperate or interact with someone or something dangerous Literally: to dance with the devil

Is “dance with the devil” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.