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.
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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
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( as modifier )
debut album
-
-
the presentation of a debutante
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
debutsimple
-
debutssimple
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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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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:
To be precise, the song in question is titled “Ain’t in L.A.” — a woozy banger from the 22-year-old’s buzzy debut album, “Prima.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
Parkinson's debut added to the debate of who Wiegman's preferred number 10 is.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
Starsailor have released a 25th anniversary edition of their debut album, Love is Here, this week and are playing it in full, with a string ensemble, on their UK and European tour this month.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Nutella will make its Super Bowl ad debut this February in one of two big-game commercials from parent company Ferrero.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Alexander, who, alone among his siblings, had realized he was now making his West End debut, spoke.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
But Pocognoli has not shied away from big calls so far - his initial bold squad and his offering of three debuts in two games stand out.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
In the second quarter of the year, the biggest U.S. banks saw surging profits thanks to a boom in stock-market debuts, mergers and acquisitions and trading activity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Sheindlin will also produce her son’s syndicated court TV show, “Adam’s Law,” which debuts Monday.
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
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
When Pete Townshend debuted “Tommy” for Cohn in the late ’60s, the rock opera lacked that same sense of immediacy.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026
KFC U.K. debuted a 30-minute YouTube game show called “Don’t Crack.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
They debuted the series in February, and after recaps of events went viral, they decided to take it on tour.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
At the Pacific Rim Championships in April 2016, I debuted a brand-new, upgraded floor routine set to fast, upbeat samba music that I thought would go over well with the crowd in Rio.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
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
Yet her latest documentary, debuting on Netflix Wednesday, is “Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing,” which portrays the airplane maker’s continuing malfeasance as not just greedy but malevolent.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 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
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.
