déjà vu

noun dé·jà vu \ ˌdā-ˌzhä-ˈvü , -ˈvᵫ \

|Updated on: 13 Jun 2018

Examples: déjà vu in a Sentence

1 a : the illusion of remembering scenes and events when experienced for the first time

b : a feeling that one has seen or heard something before

Despite a blond, swept-back mane all his own, Fonda looks startlingly like his father, Henry … . He even moves like his father, only dispelling the eerie feeling of déjà vu when he opens his mouth.
—Peter Biskind

2 : something overly or unpleasantly familiar

The team's poor start to the season was déjà vu for its long-suffering fans.

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See déjà vu defined for kids

Examples of déjà vu in a Sentence

I entered the room and immediately felt a sense of déjà vu.
When the car broke down again, it was déjà vu.
The rise in housing costs is déjà vu all over again.

Recent Examples of déjà vu from the Web

The destruction that occurred from the flood in Ellicott City — for the second time within two years — is dark deja vu for the merchants, workers, business owners and residents of that charming town and for the Baltimore region.

— dan rodricks, baltimoresun.com, "Ellicott City flood was no 'act of God'," 29 May 2018
In the devastating deja vu, raging rivers of water tore through the heart of the city, leaving homes and businesses flooded and some residents scrambling for dry ground.

— jeff pegues, CBS News, "Ellicott City flooding: Howard County had just received funding for extra drainage pipes," 28 May 2018
But the Cradle itself send commands to the parks, not unlike the way the Matrix papers over glitches with deja vu.

— meagan fredette, refinery29.com, "The Cradle On Westworld Is Capable Of So Much More Than We Expected," 28 May 2018
While watching video this week of the Rockets, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr experienced a bit of deja vu.

— connor letourneau, San Francisco Chronicle, "Steve Kerr, Mike D’Antoni: Hoops savants who clashed in the past," 11 May 2018
In what could seem like deja vu, Assil’s new project falls under the banner of Daniel Patterson’s Alta Group.

— justin phillips, San Francisco Chronicle, "Reem Assil continues meteoric rise with new fine-dining restaurant at Jack London Square," 21 Feb. 2018
The first’s a bit of deja vu, as Call of Duty: WWII’s multiplayer component is free for the weekend.

— hayden dingman, PCWorld, "This week in games: Red Dead Redemption 2 ignores PCs but Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is back," 4 May 2018
This weekend, ahead of Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, is starting to feel like deja vu.

— jim ayello, Indianapolis Star, "Alexander Rossi's dominant Long Beach weekend continues with pole win," 14 Apr. 2018
For Jerome Rose, this weekend’s Trump Tower fire struck as a particularly grim form of deja vu.

— kyle swenson, Washington Post, "Donald Trump once lobbied against fire sprinklers in existing New York high-rises, including Trump Tower," 9 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'déjà vu.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of déjà vu

French, adjective, literally, already seen

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1903

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

DÉJÀ VU Defined for English Language Learners

déjà vu

noun

: the feeling that you have already experienced something that is actually happening for the first time
: something that has happened many times before : something that is very familiar