déjà vu

American  

[dey-zhah voo, vyoo, dey-zha vy] / ˌdeɪ ʒɑ ˈvu, ˈvyu, deɪ ʒa ˈvü /

Or deja vu

noun

1. Psychology. the illusion of having previously experienced something actually being encountered for the first time.

2. disagreeable familiarity or sameness.

   The new television season had a sense of déjà vu about it—the same old plots and characters with new names.

3. the sense or feeling of having previously experienced something that really has been encountered before.

   It was déjà vu at the bobsled track today as the U.S. team again claimed the top podium positions.

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déjà vu British  

/ ˈdeɪʒæ ˈvuː, deʒa vy /

noun

1. the experience of perceiving a new situation as if it had occurred before. It is sometimes associated with exhaustion or certain types of mental disorder

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déjà vu Cultural  

1. The strange sensation that something one is now experiencing has happened before: “I knew I had never been in the house before, but as I walked up the staircase, I got a weird sense of déjà vu.” From French, meaning “already seen.”

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Spelling

See resume ².

Etymology

Origin of déjà vu

First recorded in 1900–05; from French: literally, “already seen”

Example Sentences

Conversely, those who regurgitate old styles might leave visitors with an unpleasant sense of déjà vu.

From The Wall Street Journal

The street I’m walking on hasn’t been paved yet, it’s cobblestone, and walking on it gives me a sense of déjà vu, as if I have been here before, seen this before, done this before.

From Literature

Living a nightmare of deja vu from a decade ago with a Honda engine short of power and hybrid capability, Alonso described the new season as "the battery world championship".

From BBC

For elder millennials like me, this war feels something like déjà vu—or perhaps a bad dream that never quite ends.

From Slate

If this feels like déjà vu for energy markets, that’s because it is.

From Barron's