Jazz. a melodic phrase, often constantly repeated, forming an accompaniment or part of an accompaniment for a soloist.
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.
Jazz. to perform a repeated melodic phrase, forming an accompaniment for a soloist.
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.
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.
(intr) to play or perform riffs in jazz or rock music
informal to speak amusingly or make (amusing comments or remarks)
First recorded in 1930–35; perhaps alteration and shortening of refrain 2
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."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I did and soon learned to riff with them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The album’s lead single, “In the Stars,” finds guitarist Keith Richards laying down a fiery riff against Mick Jagger’s raw and affecting lead vocals.
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026
Silence Is Talking by Reverend & The Makers is reborn as the terrace anthem, aided by the trumpeter in the England band playing the familiar riff taken from War's 1975 song Low Rider.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Richards tosses off one indelible riff after another, making “Rocks Off,” “Happy,” “Tumbling Dice” and “All Down the Line” rock and roll perfection.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
He was going to riff on the man who’d shaved in front of a Rembrandt.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
You’ve got to stop this thing’?” questioned Riff.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
Of the singing actors that come from musical theater, Amando Castro is a fiery Anita; P. Tucker Worley, buoyant Riff; Yurel Echezarreta, a suave Bernardo.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2025
Mancuso is just one of the many dark elements populating the series, the latest project from Riff Raff Entertainment headed by Law and partner Ben Jackson.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2025
But Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff ruled last year that the matter could proceed on several counts, including the argument that the app’s design was itself destructive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2025
He put on this Riff Raff-style accent he didn’t have at school.
From "Here to Stay" by Sara Farizan
Then, in the latter year, came their astounding expedition at the head of 5,000 Riffi which surprised, captured and disarmed 20,000 Spaniards under General Navarro.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Riffi were said to suffer terribly through a lack of anesthetics.
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
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
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 Chatrian, Alexandre
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
Rooker is close to Gunn, telling Comic Riffs last year about his “Guardians” director, with a full-throated laugh: “Off set, he’s like my bastard brother. But on set, he’s my dad.”
From Washington Post ● Jul. 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 Goldman, Emma
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
The room is overtaken with projections, scenes of bustling New York traffic paired with bachelor-pad-like guitar riffs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
On the song, she captures the club's electrifying clientele in a rap section that riffs on Vogue's roll-call of Hollywood legends.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Their lead single “Fabienk” is studded with hair-trigger riffs — if you can even call them that — that mix the playful nursery rhyme melodies of Battles with the no-wave drone of Sonic Youth.
From Salon ● Jun. 5, 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
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
Of these, three were based on, or riffed on, proven material—as did “Versailles” and “Beaches.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Bono has, for decades, riffed on this concept: “America isn’t just a country, it’s an idea.”
From Salon ● Mar. 10, 2026
During a midweek livestream, Adams had riffed off the results of a poll that asked whether people agreed with the statement “It’s OK to be white.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 13, 2026
And then a sound riffed into that silence.
From "Silent To The Bone" by E.L. Konigsburg
Its members deftly updated their sound with electronics, metal riffing and industrial rock, most recently on the album “Conflict DLC.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
So no one should think this was just Sotomayor riffing off the cuff.
From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2026
Giving it three stars, she says the overall feeling was that the show "did work", with some "proper jokes for grown-ups" especially in the Weekend Update section riffing on the news.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026
Unwittingly, these new Art Deco-like creations, in formally riffing on what came before, reveal the shortcomings of the original movement—and, somehow, of the show itself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025
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.
