debut
Americannoun
-
debuts
plural
-
a first public appearance on a stage, on television, etc.
-
the first appearance of something, as a new product.
-
(of a young woman) a formal introduction and entrance into society, as at an annual ball.
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the beginning of a profession, career, etc.
verb (used without object)
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debuts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
debuted,
past participle, past
-
debuting
present participle
-
to make a debut, as in society or in a performing art.
She decided to debut with several other violinists.
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to appear for the first time, as on the market.
A new product will debut next month.
verb (used with object)
-
debuts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
debuted,
past participle, past
-
debuting
present participle
-
to perform (something) for the first time before an audience.
He didn't know when the orchestra would debut his new symphony.
-
to place on the market for the first time; introduce.
adjective
noun
-
-
the first public appearance of an actor, musician, etc, or the first public presentation of a show
-
( as modifier )
debut album
-
-
the presentation of a debutante
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
debutsimple
-
debutssimple
-
have debutedperfect
-
has debutedperfect
-
am debutingprogressive
-
are debutingprogressive
-
is debutingprogressive
-
have been debutingperfect progressive
-
has been debutingperfect progressive
Past
-
debutedsimple
-
had debutedperfect
-
was debutingprogressive
-
were debutingprogressive
-
had been debutingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of debut
1745–55; < French début, derivative of débuter to make the first stroke in a game, make one's first appearance, equivalent to dé- de- + -buter, verbal derivative of but goal; see butt 2
Explanation
A debut is a first appearance, a launch, or public introduction. So before you make your big debut at the office, check and make sure you don't have spinach in your teeth. Perhaps you’ve heard of debutantes making their official debut into society, or actresses and actors making their debut on stage. A fun fact: debut and premiere are often thought to be interchangeable, but they’re not. A debut, as you now know, is a first public appearance. But a premiere, while also a “first,” isn't necessarily live. When a movie opens or an interview is broadcast for the first time, they're called premieres.
Vocabulary lists containing debut
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
On their Women's World Cup debut, they had scored against England, taking advantage of multiple English errors to deservedly pull level inside the opening 10 minutes.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
The schedule reveal show included a number of announcements, including the debut of a concept called Banana Ball 360 on June 26 at Notre Dame Stadium.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Still, the Roadster’s debut had the air of an outdoor concert, complete with fog and red laser lights as content creators flanked a main stage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Her debut performance on Tuesday lasted barely 15 minutes.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
I didn’t feel ready to debut the skill in competition though, because I still wasn’t consistently catching the bar.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
The ChatGPT-maker, along with rival Anthropic, have been eyeing blockbuster stock market debuts that would value the firms at more than $1tn each.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
Rising interest rates could pressure biotech IPOs, and the expected stock-market debuts of artificial-intelligence companies Anthropic and OpenAI could pull generalist investors away from the sector, analysts said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Counting his four seasons with San Francisco, Harbaugh is 6-0 in NFL season debuts as a head coach.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026
"Union Town," which debuts Wednesday at the festival, is the third in a trilogy about worker struggles by the Oscar-winning US director, following 1976's "Harlan County U.S.A." and 1990's "American Dream."
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
"Tonight was one of the strongest debuts I think we've had since my maman was still alive."
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
So far, Katie Zacharia, who debuted as the White House’s top spokesperson on Tuesday, is looking like the latter.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026
When “A Different World” debuted in 1987, the world looked very different.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
Holmes herself shied from the public eye, making the surprise release of the documentary "You Can See Everything" all the more astonishing when it debuted to high praise at the Telluride Film Festival in September.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
It debuted in 2018 during the NBA playoffs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
These images were now rapidly available thanks to wirephoto services, which had debuted in Life in the month that Pollard, Howard, and Smith formed their partnership.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
The company is also debuting LendScore Arc, a credit risk model powered by AI technology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
New York Fashion Week gets into full swing on Thursday, with Henry Zankov debuting his first collection as artistic director at Diane von Furstenberg.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
They became roommates and teammates, debuting in the same year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
That helped the company develop solutions in a fraction of the time usually required, including a new GLP-1-friendly brand debuting soon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
At Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx, players were debuting numbered uniforms: Lou Gehrig wore No. 4; Babe Ruth, about to hit his five hundredth home run, wore No. 3.
From "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
