déjà vu

noun

dé·jà vu ˌdā-ˌzhä-ˈvü

-ˈvᵫ

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

: 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

: something overly or unpleasantly familiar

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

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 on the Web There’s been a lot of deja vu with little things that have happened that feels reminiscent of my rookie year. —

Brian Wacker, Baltimore Sun, 6 Sep. 2023 If their applause on Tuesday brings a feeling of deja vu, there's good reason. —

David Jackson, USA TODAY, 2 Aug. 2023 Bomba had deja vu from San Francisco, where the air was so thick with smoke people had to mask up. —

Seth Borenstein and Melina Walling, Anchorage Daily News, 1 July 2023 Hailey Bieber's latest beauty look just gave me serious deja vu. —

Kara Nesvig, Allure, 26 June 2023 But in the shorter term, likely stretching past the next presidential election, the historic development had an air of deja vu − of Trump enmeshed in yet another controversy that would have ended the public career of almost anyone else. —

Susan Page, USA TODAY, 14 June 2023 Tuesday’s filing brought fresh disruption to City Hall, where staffers described a sense of deja vu. —

James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2023 At least some fans who attend Friday night’s Snapdragon Stadium concert by Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Mars Volta and Thundercat are likely to feel a partial sense of deja vu. RCHP, as the band is also known, performed a stadium gig here with Thundercat last July. —

George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 May 2023 Ravens fans may be feeling deja vu. —

Taylor Deville, baltimoresun.com, 9 Aug. 2021 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'déjà vu.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.