Did you know?
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.
Examples of reprise in a Sentence
Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 12 Apr. 2025
The prospect of returning to the role, first for a West End reprise in February and then for the Brooklyn performance frightened her.
—Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2025
Fran Ruiz, Space.com, 18 Apr. 2025
This would not be the first time Silverstone has reprised the role of Cher in the past few years.
—Joe Otterson, Variety, 17 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for reprise
Cite this Entry
“Reprise.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reprise. Accessed 2 May. 2025.
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