View synonyms for déjà vu

déjà vu

or de·ja vu

[ dey-zhah voo, vyoo; French dey-zha vy ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

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

déjà vu

/ ˈdeɪʒæ ˈvuː; deʒa vy /

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

déjà vu

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.”

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

from French, literally: already seen

He discusses the film, his Homeland Security fiasco, and why seeing Iraq in the news is giving him an awful sense of déjà vu.

And yet, this almost-unfathomable plot somehow manages to elicit a sense of déjà vu.

For Rich Tafel, the news from Texas brings a feeling of déjà vu.

Governments throughout Europe are having their Weimer moment—déjà vu with potentially ruinous consequences.

And anyone in Europe with a sense of history has a very uneasy feeling of déjà vu.

If they illustrate the déjà vu, they also illustrate the fond discrepancies of all such narratives.

On the same plane as the dreams which we have been examining is the waking sensation of the déjà vu.

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