debut
Americannoun
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a first public appearance on a stage, on television, etc.
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the first appearance of something, as a new product.
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(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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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)
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to perform (something) for the first time before an audience.
He didn't know when the orchestra would debut his new symphony.
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to place on the market for the first time; introduce.
adjective
noun
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the first public appearance of an actor, musician, etc, or the first public presentation of a show
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( as modifier )
debut album
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the presentation of a debutante
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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debutsimple
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debutssimple
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have debutedperfect
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has debutedperfect
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am debutingprogressive
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are debutingprogressive
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is debutingprogressive
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have been debutingperfect progressive
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has been debutingperfect progressive
Past
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debutedsimple
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had debutedperfect
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was debutingprogressive
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were debutingprogressive
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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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English Words Derived from French, List 2
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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:
Flag football is making its Olympic debut and was among the new sports that sold out through its ticketing availability during the first ticket drop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Two other authors are recognised for debut works - including Kenan Orhan for The Renovation, about a psychologist caring for her dementia-suffering father in Italy when some building work doesn't go to plan.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Rather, he was sitting in the audience of a local dance recital, waiting on his two young daughters, Sloan and Stella, who were each making their solo dancing debut with their company.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Hogh was first called up to Denmark's senior squad in March and made his debut as a late substitute in a 4–0 win over North Macedonia.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
"Gerta, how about this one? For your debut."
From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper
Mor Talla N'diaye, 18, and Ifeanyi Ndukwe, 18, made their debuts and both performed admirably given the situation but neither can be expected to feature regularly yet.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Wall Street is scrutinizing their business performance more closely than ever ahead of their market debuts.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
He would do the same with Anthropic and OpenAI, as the leading AI developers eye $1 trillion stock market debuts, Lim adds.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
The recent initial public offering of SpaceX, along with the expected debuts of Anthropic, OpenAI and others, place a group of believers atop the investing world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 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
Jones paid tribute to Hensley Meulens, who became the first native of Curaçao in the majors when he debuted on Aug. 23, 1989, with the Yankees.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
The flight aims were similar to those of a mostly successful voyage carried out in May, which debuted the latest edition of the powerful Starship, its third-generation model.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
SpaceX debuted on the public markets in June, marking a blockbuster IPO which Nasdaq said earlier on Thursday was its biggest listing in history.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
The iPhone debuted in 2007, when the eldest members of Gen Z were about 10 years old.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 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
After debuting the Muse Spark 1.0 model in April, Meta followed up with the release of Muse Image and Muse Spark 1.1 in July.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
Since debuting last week, it has drawn industry attention, with many viewing it as a strong competitor to leading Western AI systems.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
The show, which is produced by the aggressively hip New Theater Hollywood, recently wrapped its third “season” after debuting in February and returning for an April encore.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
Along with its new U.S. retail footprint, Olive Young is debuting an American e-commerce site, where products will ship from a California warehouse and not from Korea.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
