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When reprise was first adopted into English in the 15th century, it referred to a deduction or charge made yearly out of a manor or estate (and was usually used in the plural form reprises). It probably won't surprise you, then, to learn that reprise comes from an Anglo-French word meaning "seizure, repossession, or expense." Eventually, reprise came to refer to any action that was repeated or resumed. A later sense, borrowed from modern French, applies to specific types of repetition in musical compositions. That sense was eventually generalized to describe any subsequent and identical performance. It's possible, for example, to have a reprise of a television program or a book.
Synonyms
Examples of reprise in a Sentence
Daniel Kohn, SPIN, 23 Nov. 2023
The first line of a classic tune by The Stylistics is an ode to striking sanitation workers, and their reprise is a reminder, much like Bluey, that people make the world go round.
—Ken Makin, The Christian Science Monitor, 11 Oct. 2023
The Tonight’s the Night portion of the evening ended with an extended reprise of the title track, and Young back at the piano.
—Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 21 Sep. 2023
The second-act reprise of the number is brief and remains lyrically vague.
—Theater Review Aug. 3, Vulture, 3 Aug. 2023
The men picked up a pair of medals last time and should be good for at least a reprise.
—John Powers, BostonGlobe.com, 26 July 2023
Netflix brought back the series for a four-episode limited run, titled Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, which saw the cast reprise their roles, including Gunn.
—Kelly Martinez, Peoplemag, 15 July 2023
The one-minute reprise of sorts wasn’t included on The Barbie Album and was otherwise unavailable before hitting streaming services Saturday.
—Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 29 July 2023
And the French, despite a couple of wobbly outings, are up against Morocco in a reprise of last year’s enchanting men’s semifinal.
—John Powers, BostonGlobe.com, 5 Aug. 2023
Keith Langston, Peoplemag, 23 Nov. 2023
Boise, Austin and Provo all reprised as big winners, each garnering over 10% wage increases that raised their prices around 25% on an annual basis.
—Shawn Tully, Fortune, 19 Nov. 2023
Fans of the big screen films will be pleased to know Monarch literally begins with a sequence featuring John Goodman’s Randa, with the actor reprising his role from Kong: Skull Island.
—Abbey White, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Nov. 2023
Also reprising their roles for this season are Dominic West as Prince Charles, Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II and Salim Daw as Mohamed Fayed, Dodi’s father.
—Los Angeles Times, 18 Nov. 2023
The film’s entire cast, from Cera to Chris Evans to Aubrey Plaza, even reprises their roles as voice performers.
—Alison Herman, Variety, 17 Nov. 2023
This month, the 34-year-old actor is reprising his wacky, wild-eyed and highly energetic Grinch performance for the third year in a row.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Nov. 2023
But two combatants stood out: Nigel Farage, then the leader of the U.K. Independence Party, reprising his argument that new entrants to Britain were a dangerous resource drain, and Brand.
—Matt Flegenheimer, New York Times, 13 Nov. 2023
McKenna Grace and Logan Kim reprise their roles as Phoebe Spengler and her BFF Podcast.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 8 Nov. 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'reprise.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Noun
Middle English, from Anglo-French, seizure, repossession, expense, from feminine past participle of reprendre to take back, from re- + prendre to take, from Latin prehendere
Verb
Middle English, from Middle French repris, past participle of reprendre
Noun
15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3
Verb
15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2
Podcast
Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP
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Cite this Entry
“Reprise.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reprise. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.
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