reprise
Americannoun
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Law. Usually reprises. an annual deduction, duty, or payment out of a manor or estate, as an annuity or the like.
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Music.
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a repetition.
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a return to the first theme or subject.
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verb (used with object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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reprisesimple
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reprisessimple
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have reprisedperfect
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has reprisedperfect
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am reprisingprogressive
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are reprisingprogressive
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is reprisingprogressive
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have been reprisingperfect progressive
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has been reprisingperfect progressive
Past
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reprisedsimple
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had reprisedperfect
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was reprisingprogressive
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were reprisingprogressive
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had been reprisingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of reprise
1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French: a taking back, Old French, noun use of feminine past participle of reprendre to take back < Latin reprehendere to reprehend
Explanation
Reprise means "repeat an earlier role." If you’re asked to reprise your role as "kid entertainer" at the annual family reunion, that means people want you to do it again this year. Early on, reprise was a part in a song or other musical composition that is repeated. The word still carries that meaning, but now it's more likely to be used as a verb to describe an action or part that is repeated, often a performance. For example, if you played a role in a wildly successful film that is going to have a sequel, you would reprise your role. The word comes from the French word repris, meaning "take back."
Vocabulary lists containing reprise
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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This Week In Popular Culture: August 17–23, 2019
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This Week In Culture: August 1–6, 2020
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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:
The National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, venue for the fashion show being held later on Thursday, will also host a reprise of the famous 1985 museum exhibition by Lagerfeld.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
I mean no offense to Bettany or Michael Sheen, who recently signed on to reprise the role for a West End production set for spring of 2027.
From Salon ● May 16, 2026
Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt reprise their roles from the 2006 comedy in this flimsy fashion-world sequel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
Sheen will reprise his role as composer Antonio Salieri opposite Howells as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026
It was a reprise of my first attempt on the north face.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
Dwayne Johnson reprises his role as demigod Maui, while the titular heroine will be played by newcomer Catherine Laga’aia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
Blunt reprises her role as Emily Charlton, who is no longer an assistant at the magazine and now works as a high-up executive in luxury retail.
From BBC ● May 1, 2026
Fans entering Burke’s show were greeted by a casket and guest book, where they could pay condolences to a character Burke sometimes reprises in his performances and music videos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026
Australia's Samara Weaving reprises her starring role in the sequel, which sees her forced once again to run a gauntlet, this time against multiple families.
From Barron's ● Mar. 22, 2026
They did not hesitate to embroider the compositions, and the reprises were widespread.
From On the Execution of Music, and Principally of Ancient Music by Saint-Saëns, Camille
That musical’s writer, Lin-Manuel Miranda, penned the songs for the 2016 film alongside Opetaia Foaʻi and Mark Mancina; dutifully reprised here, they remain basically persuasive works of Disney pop.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
According to TMZ, external, the actor also reprised his role from The Wedding Singer by performing his own "humorous yet touching" song at Friday's ceremony.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
His charisma made him a worthy inheritor to the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in stage productions of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” which he reprised several times over the years.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026
The pair reprised a much-loved segment during Letterman's stint as host - throwing furniture and watermelons off the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater onto a CBS logo.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
The bathers passed and reprised with little concern, while the corpse continued extended on the shore, not twenty yards from the Steine.
From Beaux and Belles of England Mrs. Mary Robinson, Written by Herself, With the lives of the Duchesses of Gordon and Devonshire by Robinson, Mary
The English actress is having a blockbuster year, between reprising her breakout role and starring in Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day.’
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
Lithgow, reprising his Olivier-winning performance, is at once terrifying and never anything less than human in one of the bravest performances of the Broadway season.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2026
Even with all four main players from the original cast reprising their roles, and Aline Brosh McKenna and David Frankel returning to write and direct, respectively, none of this merit was guaranteed.
From Salon ● May 1, 2026
Following on from Steven Knight's acclaimed TV drama series, the trailer shows Oscar winner Cillian Murphy reprising his role as flat cap-wearing criminal gang leader Tommy Shelby, returning to Birmingham during World War Two.
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026
"Then through here—" Miss Avery continued passing and reprising through the hall.
From Howards End by Forster, E. M. (Edward Morgan)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
