déjà vu

American  

[dey-zhah voo, vyoo, dey-zha vy] / ˌdeɪ ʒɑ ˈvu, ˈvju, 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

See Examples For:

déjà vu

The virus that started with an outbreak on a cruise ship has infiltrated the public consciousness, and it feels like déjà vu: resurrecting painful memories of the Covid-19 pandemic that shut down the world.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026

The fact that the outbreak was on a cruise ship, one of the first places COVID-19 started to spread back in early 2020, is giving tons of people déjà vu.

From Salon ● May 11, 2026

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

From Barron's ● Mar. 9, 2026

Plaid Cymru's Westminster Leader, Liz Saville Roberts, said the announcement would "feel like déjà vu to many people in Wales", saying the new stations had already been announced in last year's Spending Review.

From BBC ● Feb. 17, 2026

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 "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse