riff
noun
a melodic phrase, often constantly repeated, forming an accompaniment or part of an accompaniment for a soloist.
Showing results for "riff"
- a variation of rif.
riff
1 American
[rif]
/ rɪf /
noun
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riffs
plural
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Jazz. a melodic phrase, often constantly repeated, forming an accompaniment or part of an accompaniment for a soloist.
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a new variation on or a different manifestation of an existing thing or idea (often followed byon ).
This is an eco-conscious riff on the study-abroad experience.
verb (used without object)
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riffs,
present (3rd person singular)
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riffed,
past participle, past
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riffing
present participle
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Jazz. to perform a repeated melodic phrase, forming an accompaniment for a soloist.
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to experiment with a thing or idea, making changes that create a new and novel version of it (often followed byon ).
My partner likes to let his ideas quietly simmer, but I prefer to riff on mine in conversations where I can bounce my thoughts off other people.
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to create, write, or perform something, like a comedy routine, using a common or known point of departure and following a previously unexplored tangent from that known point to a fresh or humorous perspective (often followed by on oroff ).
My act riffs off famous love stories and adds modern feminist elements to unmask the absurdity of “happily ever after” in fairy tales.
riff
British
/ rɪf /
noun
verb
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(intr) to play or perform riffs in jazz or rock music
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informal to speak amusingly or make (amusing comments or remarks)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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riffsimple
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riffssimple
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have riffedperfect
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has riffedperfect
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am riffingprogressive
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are riffingprogressive
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is riffingprogressive
-
have been riffingperfect progressive
-
has been riffingperfect progressive
Past
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riffedsimple
-
had riffedperfect
-
was riffingprogressive
-
were riffingprogressive
-
had been riffingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of riff
First recorded in 1930–35; perhaps alteration and shortening of refrain 2
Explanation
A riff is a short section of music, especially in jazz. When you're first learning to play the saxophone, you may just play the same riff over and over. When one jazz musician in a band is improvising, the others are typically playing riffs in the background. Sometimes a riff introduces the start of a song or its chorus. To play this section is also to riff, and you can also talk about improvised speech using riff: "The stand-up comic decided to riff on the subject of his mom, since it was the only joke that was getting any laughs."
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:
Then, after a pause, she added an inspired riff: “But I do support the military.”
From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026
“I used to be pure,” he sings over the crunchy riff, continuing, “I just try to be good now.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Analysts at Nomura describe it as a classic "picks and shovels" trade, a riff on how selling tools during a gold rush can earn people more than searching for the precious metal.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
This month, “Cool Machine,” a riff on 1980s New York in the form of a tightly plotted crime novel, arrives from Colson Whitehead.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
That familiar relentless beat and exotic, yet somehow ominous riff fills the air.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Ernest told Whiskey Riff early this year that he and McAfee had recorded eight or nine songs together.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
“It doesn’t change our investigation at all,” Hochman said after the ruling from Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
You’ve got to stop this thing’?” questioned Riff.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
“We have the county of Los Angeles with its county counsel’s office, which is a very substantial and sophisticated office, telling me this payment program should go forward,” Riff said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
"I could ask her what kind of a jam they think they've gotten into in the Riff."
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
He said that the hearts of loyal Riffi are so constructed that they could not possibly turn from Krim to "the French sultan."
From Time Magazine Archive
The source of Krim's remarkable wealth was declared to be certain valuable mineral deposits in the Riff, which are allegedly worked by women when the fighting male Riffi are at the front.
From Time Magazine Archive
He said that not even Abd-El-Krim can disarm the Riffi, since each cleaves to his rifle as to his wife.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Riffi were said to suffer terribly through a lack of anesthetics.
From Time Magazine Archive
Riffi, the little tailor, recalled the words of his wife Sapience: "Riffi, you will get yourself crippled, and it will serve you right."
From The Invasion of France in 1814 by Alexandre Chatrian
And while some might call it cheap clickbait, we have a vision for what’s next: a Second 100 Days of Riffs on the Second-Degree Amendment Process in the Senate.
From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2021
Riffs on identity and 100 years of the Huntington Library.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2019
Jaimes embraces this swarm of fresh readers, telling The Washington Post’s Comic Riffs: “I’m happy to have all these new eyeballs on a classic comic strip I love.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 23, 2018
Riffs on life and love in prose and comic strip form, from the author of The Time Traveler’s Wife and her graphic artist husband.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 6, 2018
They saw no reason for aiding a despotic government in subduing and oppressing a small people fighting for their independence, as did the brave Riffs.
From Anarchism and Other Essays by Emma Goldman
Instead, consider Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, which riffs on slasher films like Sleepaway Camp and Friday the 13th.
From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2026
Those riffs will be on display at the Wacken Open Air festival on Friday and during McCreary’s eight-date September “Singularity” tour of the West Coast that hits L.A. on Sept. 17.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
There just aren’t that many memorable riffs, and the ones that are here don’t hit as hard as they could thanks to the overstuffed production.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The company has tried to offer more products beyond jeans — such as dresses, blouses and other items geared toward women — as well as modern riffs on old favorites like 501s.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
A high-pitched howl wailed over frenetic guitar riffs, followed by booming drums.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
“Poltergeist” was, notably, a summertime Amblin release that similarly riffed on classic creature scares — updating dusty, old ghost tropes with new ideas — much like Mitchell does with his dino-time-travel extravaganza.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
President Donald Trump riffed on his White House predecessors in a children's podcast Friday, while also joking about his weight and musing as to whether his body is swimsuit-ready.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
“The Comeback” premiered in 2005, just a year after the end of “Friends”; the first season addressed the rise of reality TV, and the next season, in 2014, riffed on dark, streaming “prestige” television.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2026
On TikTok, people have riffed on and parodied the playful lyrics endlessly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2025
Bobby Gene and I riffed about it all the way down the block.
From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon
The audience instantly understands that this is Schoenbrun riffing on their own intellectually minded approach, and that Kris is a self-insert character for the movie’s writer-director.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
Jones, two minutes later, riffing off her lyrics, her voice rising: “We gonna win! We gonna win! We gonna win — win it all!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
An avid rock drummer, Yang called his startup “Dark Side of the Moon” in Chinese, riffing off the Pink Floyd album.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
The bar is decorated with references to China's AI boom, with logos of the country's major labs on the walls and the menu full of jokes riffing on tech jargon.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
He was riffing about on his acoustic guitar.
From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
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.
