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
-
(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:
Liam's riff on Mick Jagger's creaking limbs is worth the price of admission alone.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
She added that there was a reason Matty Healy continually referenced the song’s addictive piano riff for the 1975.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
Petrie-Morris announced that Fairground’s first products would riff on beloved public domain characters—Robin Hood, etc.—and then hopefully earn access to established IP through studio partnerships.
From Slate ● Aug. 16, 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
As the rapid guitar riff went off, the Boggs Ferry Raccoons emerged, their gray-and-black uniforms sparkling in the disco lights.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
“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
Hochman asked Riff last week to delay the first tranche of payments, saying he believed as many as four in five claims might be fake.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
Riff held off on making a decision on Hochman’s request for a six-month delay, asking the lawyers to halt payments until another hearing scheduled for June 25.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
The tongue-in-cheek title track positively swaggers, while “The Riff That Won’t Quit” lives up to its name.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 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
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
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
A Riffi sat on a stool in the sun, leaning against the vine, nursing his gun; his single long black lock fell down by his ear, glossy and tied in a knot at the end.
From In the Tail of the Peacock by Isabel Savory
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
Michael Cavna, the creator of the Comic Riffs column, reviews graphic novels for The Washington Post.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 16, 2020
Riffs on identity and 100 years of the Huntington Library.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2019
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
I saw the Riffs who were in the Soko pass by.
From Bye-Ways by Robert Smythe Hichens
A powerhouse version of Dangerous Woman claps like thunder; and Grande's vocal riffs on Safety Net are so tremendously colossal they should be registered as the eighth wonder of the world.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Ballet flats are back in vogue, and that’s prompted some unlikely companies to hop on the bandwagon with their own riffs on the classic shoe silhouette.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
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
Led by Busby’s machine-gun mandolin riffs and hair-raising tenor, the band had a hard-edged bluegrass-style sound that was a far cry from the homogenized, syrupy country-and-western slop heard around town.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
I recognized the opening riffs of “Change,” by John Waite.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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
Bono has, for decades, riffed on this concept: “America isn’t just a country, it’s an idea.”
From Salon ● Mar. 10, 2026
At a crypto event in June, a video that riffed on an old movie showed Tenev speeding through the French Riviera in a convertible.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 26, 2025
The most painful moment may have been the concluding “Sports Matters” segment, where Meier riffed with co-host Dave Martin while holding packets of paper from which they were clearly and awkwardly reading.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2025
Magic Jay, Jimmy L’s secret agent name, was riffed from his favorite basketball player, the legendary Magic Johnson.
From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser
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
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
The director said: "As Ryan started talking about his vision for this character, we started riffing, and I finally said, 'bro, let's ride', so guys, we'll see you in 2028."
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
We stepped easy, riffing with Styx about our new plan.
From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon
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.
