segue

American  

[say-gway, seg-way] / ˈseɪ gweɪ, ˈsɛg weɪ /

verb (used without object)

segued, segueing

1. to continue at once with the next musical section or composition (often used as a musical direction).

2. to perform in the manner of the preceding section (used as a musical direction).

3. to make a transition from one thing to another smoothly and without interruption.

   The conversation segued from travel anecdotes to food.

---

noun

1. an uninterrupted transition made between one musical section or composition and another.

2. any smooth, uninterrupted transition from one thing to another.

segue British  

/ ˈsɛɡweɪ /

verb

1. (often foll by into) to proceed from one section or piece of music to another without a break

2. (imperative) play on without pause: a musical direction

---

noun

1. the practice or an instance of playing music in this way

Etymology

Origin of segue

First recorded in 1850–55; from Italian: “(it) follows, (there) follows,” 3rd-person singular present of seguire “to follow,” ultimately from Latin sequī; see sue

---

Explanation

A segue is a smooth transition. When you segue in conversation, you change the topic so smoothly that people might not even notice. A good speaker knows how to segue: they can get from one topic to another so easily that you hardly notice the topic changed. Comedians have the same skill as they segue from one joke to another, and politicians also learn the art of the segue. So do teachers. This is also a term in music for moving from one part of a piece to another. Remember that segue does not sound quite how it looks: it's pronounced "SEG-way."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

segue segued segueing

Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison has rolled out his Skydance executive team, which includes several senior Warner Bros. executives who will segue into new roles at the soon-to-be merged Skydance media company.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026

“If you look at your outfit and you say to yourself, ‘Oh, this will segue nicely to a sports bar, it's probably not the right outfit for the office.’”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

Morris, who’d flown in from New York after attending her pal Taylor Swift’s wedding on Friday night, made an improbably smooth segue between her and Zedd’s synthed-up “The Middle” and the rustic “My Church.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026

Rosalía used this as a perfect segue into her song La Perla, supposedly about her former fiancé Rauw Alejandro - with lyrics about a "terrorista emocional" whose proudest achievement is his collection of bras.

From BBC ● May 6, 2026

As the last scene faded and the segue music played, my heart started to thunder.

From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon

“Harborcoat,” from the sophomore album, segued into “How the West Was Won” from a later era.

From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026

Elkhanah Pulitzer’s direction segued smoothly from the real to the visionary.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 12, 2026

The show began with a new-agey wash of ocean sounds, that segued seamlessly into her 2024 single, Training Season.

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2025

As the chuckles subsided, Biden segued back to his prepared remarks by saying, “All kidding aside.”

From Slate ● Dec. 11, 2024

After a time the rolling meadows segued into a golf course.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

“EPiC” follows Presley as he blazes through classics including “Little Sister,” slyly asserting his influence in rock by segueing into the Beatles’ “Get Back.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 2026

When asked about making a film for Netflix, Damon began by discussing the movie’s action sequences, before segueing into a telling detail about the streamer’s model.

From Salon ● Jan. 25, 2026

She emerges to ear-splitting screams, in a floral-print dress and towering heels, smouldering through the achingly cool A&W, before segueing into the ethereal Young and Beautiful.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2023

Simply put, the culprit has been an ongoing health issue — two of them, really; one segueing into the other seamlessly to create a hellish month of inactivity.

From Seattle Times ● May 31, 2023

Snow was falling in earnest now—big silent petals drifting through the springtime woods, white bouquets segueing into snowy dark: a nightmarish topsy-turvy land, something from a story book.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• continuation

---