Synonyms

rehearse

American

[ri-hurs] / rɪˈhɜrs /

verb (used with object)

to practice (a musical composition, a play, a speech, etc.) in private prior to a public presentation.
to drill or train (an actor, musician, etc.) by rehearsal, as for some performance or part.
to relate the facts or particulars of; recount.

Synonyms:

recapitulate, narrate, portray, describe, delineate

verb (used without object)

to rehearse a play, part, etc.; participate in a rehearsal.

rehearse British

/ rɪˈhɜːs /

verb

to practise (a play, concert, etc), in preparation for public performance
(tr) to run through; recount; recite

the official rehearsed the grievances of the committee
(tr) to train or drill (a person or animal) for the public performance of a part in a play, show, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Synonym Usage

See relate.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of rehearse

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English rehersen, rehercen, from Middle French rehercier “to repeat,” equivalent to re- “again, over and over” + hercier “to strike, harrow” (derivative of herce, herse “a harrow”); see re-, hearse

Explanation

When you rehearse, you practice something. You and your cast mates will need to rehearse for several weeks before you'll be ready to perform the entire two hours and forty-five minutes of the musical "Hamilton." A new teacher might rehearse before his first day teaching math to ninth graders, and you'll want to rehearse before you sing the national anthem on the field before a baseball game begins. If you're nervous about something, like asking someone to the prom, you might rehearse it in your mind. At the root of rehearse is the Old French word rehercier, which means both "go over again," and "rake and turn over the soil."

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Vocabulary lists containing rehearse

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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:

rehearse rehearses rehearsed rehearsing

But there is an equally plausible danger: the ritual may simply rehearse the behaviour it is supposed to replace.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

All we did was rehearse every now and then.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

She noted that associates used to rehearse customer-advising scenarios improv-style with colleagues before the store opened.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

At one of Snabbit's training hubs in the southern tech hub of Bengaluru, workers rehearse tasks such as chopping vegetables against the clock.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

No matter how important it was to find the missing slippers, she, George, and Bess had to focus on their last chance to rehearse.

From "The Cinderella Ballet Mystery: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #4" by Carolyn Keene

She's looking on proudly as her son rehearses.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2025

In the next scene, Howze is splayed out on a mattress beneath a suspended fun house mirror, skis dangling from the ceiling as he rehearses his final thoughts.

From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2024

Take an American ballerina, clad in shimmering white, caught in a blur of revolving motion as she rehearses in China.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 4, 2023

When she rehearses a play, he’s at the theater too, yet it never smacks of a caretaking decision.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2023

Ralph answered in the cautious voice of one who rehearses a theorem.

From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

The group rehearsed “pretty much every night,” performed frequently and promoted itself aggressively.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

It found no evidence that the staff in the unit had been trained or had ever rehearsed how to evacuate the ward of newborns, many of whom were premature or "medically fragile".

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

It was a moment Gotze, then 22, had long dreamed of and one he had rehearsed as a kid.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026

He had an elaborate pitch, which he painstakingly rehearsed and refined.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026

I need the exact words rehearsed in my mind.

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

We changed the band’s name in 1964 to the Spiders and played primal rock, rehearsing five hours a day.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

Inside Nardis Jazz Club, a dimly lit venue with an intimate feel in the shadow of Istanbul's Galata Tower, a jazz trio is rehearsing ahead of an evening show with a singer.

From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026

Avery, 15, and 14-year-old Manas and their band The Ladies-Men have been rehearsing at the Oh Yeah centre as part of North South Sounds 2026.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

One performer described the worst possible outcome: working all week, staying up all night, writing sketches, rehearsing constantly, and then discovering on Saturday night that you don’t even need hair and makeup.

From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026

At the end of the block, the Baptist choir was rehearsing Christmas carols, their rich voices spilling out into the neighborhood from the open church door.

From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023