reprise
Americannoun
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reprises
plural
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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)
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reprises,
present (3rd person singular)
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reprised,
past participle, past
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reprising
present participle
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:
Work on the film is in the "very early days", with sources telling US media, external that both Hudson, 47, and Matthew McConaughey, 56, could reprise their roles from the first film.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
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
Now we await a reprise of her jeans and white T-shirt red carpet look from last year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
She agreed, tickled to reprise her role again.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
He read my ticket and then went through a reprise of the just-the-facts interrogation he had administered that afternoon in the Watch Commander’s Office.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
Dwayne Johnson reprises his role as demigod Maui, with 19-year-old Australian-Samoan newcomer Catherine Laga'aia playing Moana, the teen daughter of a Polynesian chief.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 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
“The Quantity Theory of Morality” is his 20th work of fiction: a novel in six parts that reprises several of his debut’s themes, with a contemporary twist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
The clear value, reprises deducted, yearly, £5 13s. 10d.,” with “goods, chattels and ornaments worth £1 10s.”
From A History of Horncastle from the earliest period to the present time by James Conway Walter
Hottle played a young orphan named Jia in the monster film series, and reprised the role in the 2024 sequel Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
He reprised his role as the palaeontologist in Jurassic Park III in 2001.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
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
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
Buckingham House was reprised by a bargain with the public for one hundred thousand pounds; and the small house at Windsor has been, if I mistake not, undertaken since that account was brought before us.
From The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 02 (of 12) by Edmund Burke
Fans cheered for the return of the Jonas Brothers reprising their original Disney roles in “Camp Rock 3.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
The fourth series he’s produced this year, this “Yellowstone” spinoff has Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser reprising their roles and doing battle against a rival rancher in South Texas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 10, 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
The film picks up from Steven Knight's acclaimed, Birmingham-set TV series, with Oscar winner Murphy reprising his role as gang leader Tommy Shelby who is depicted returning to the city during World War Two.
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2026
"Then through here—" Miss Avery continued passing and reprising through the hall.
From Howards End by E. M. (Edward Morgan) Forster
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.
