rehearse
Americanverb (used with object)
-
rehearses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
rehearsed,
past participle, past
-
rehearsing
present participle
-
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)
-
rehearses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
rehearsed,
past participle, past
-
rehearsing
present participle
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
Synonym Usage
See relate.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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rehearsernoun
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rehearsableadjective
-
unrehearsableadjective
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unrehearsedadjective
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unrehearsingadjective
-
well-rehearsedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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rehearsesimple
-
rehearsessimple
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have rehearsedperfect
-
has rehearsedperfect
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am rehearsingprogressive
-
are rehearsingprogressive
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is rehearsingprogressive
-
have been rehearsingperfect progressive
-
has been rehearsingperfect progressive
Past
-
rehearsedsimple
-
had rehearsedperfect
-
was rehearsingprogressive
-
were rehearsingprogressive
-
had been rehearsingperfect progressive
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."
Vocabulary lists containing rehearse
Speaking and Listening - Introductory
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Speaking and Listening - Middle School
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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:
Our manager, Shep Gordon, moved us to Michigan to rehearse our third album.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
All we did was rehearse every now and then.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
As part of the operation, the carrier will rehearse how an Allied naval force would operate together in the event of a crisis, the Navy said.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
Many job seekers are employing artificial intelligence to rehearse asking for a higher salary by using large language models like Claude or ChatGPT to practice a mock negotiation.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
At night, while I would lie in bed and rehearse the things I was going to say, Raymond slept beside me in a little bassinet.
From "Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice" by Phillip Hoose
In another part of the city, mother-of-two Natalia Bushkovska each night rehearses three different plans.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
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
Alone on his couch, he rehearses the litany of troubles that have led him there.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2023
Orson Welles rehearses The Campbell Playhouse in this 1938 CBS publicity composite.
From "Spooked!" by Gail Jarrow
Upon noticing a grouping of doors in one area when meeting Skeete in person, Fielder says, “Oh, door city over here,” a premeditated line he had actually rehearsed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
The airline said the flights were performed with the "approved and rehearsed safety altitude and speed limits for the flypast" and were conducted by a "highly experienced crew".
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 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
The hosts of “The View” did not allow him to coast on his carefully rehearsed charm.
From Salon ● Jun. 17, 2026
As they neared the docks, Haldon Lac rehearsed what he would say when they brought in Hatchet and his men.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
The scandal blew up while Lisa was rehearsing for a pivotal performance at the Coachella Festival in 2025.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
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
There’s a semi-out culture in which Jordan and Eddy are rehearsing for a performance of John Herbert’s 1967 gay prison play, “Fortune and Men’s Eyes.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 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
They’d been rehearsing for three hours straight and he’d really been hitting the water bowls hard, so he needed to head outside.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
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