dance to a different tune

dance to a different tune

English

Verb

dance to a different tune (third-person singular simple present dances to a different tune, present participle dancing to a different tune, simple past and past participle danced to a different tune)

1. Alternative form of dance to a new tune
   • 2004, Rolf A. F. Witzsche, Flight Without Limits, →ISBN, page 28:

     You can choose to override these laws, you can change the game, you can dance to a different tune.

   • 2007, Cornelius J. Troost, Apes Or Angels?: Darwin, Dover, Human Nature, and Race, →ISBN, page ix:

     The single event that forced Christianity to dance to a different tune was Darwin's great 1859 book called On the Origin of Species.

   • 2012, E.V. Thompson, Dream Traders, →ISBN:

     'We'll all be dancing to a different tune before long.' Killian somehow managed to produce the semblance of a smile. 'When trading in opium becomes legal I doubt if Gemmell Company will be lagging behind.'

2. To behave differently; to march to the beat of a different drummer.
   • 2011, Scott Lyall & ‎Margery Palmer McCulloch, The Edinburgh Companion to Hugh MacDiarmid, →ISBN, page 128:

     In one way the book is a straightforward defence of eccentricity, a plea for the importance of valuing individuals who choose to dance to a different tune.

   • 2012, Anonymous, The Erotic Memoirs of a Lusty Victorian Rake: Volume 2, →ISBN:

     Whether they walk or take a cab, they arrive at exactly the right time to bag a window seat and settle themselves down in comfort for their trip. Alas, I dance to a different tune. I have been catching trains all my life and throughout this time I have always been afraid of missing them.

   • 2014, Jen Minkman, The Space In Between: A YA Paranormal Romance, page 29:

     Is it a crime to work like that? Is it so hard to accept that some people dance to a different tune?!

3. Used other than with a figurative or idiomatic meaning: see dance,‎ different,‎ tune.