Synonyms of riff

riff

noun

ˈrif 

as in interpretation

a distinct treatment of something (as a story or a play)

a mock news program with humorous riffs on current events

Synonyms & Similar Words

• interpretation
• variation
• version
• take
• translation
• adaptation

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of riff

Silvia Petrova and her family, longtime residents of Saratoga, acquired Bell Tower Café last year and transformed the adjacent building into a riff on a speakeasy, featuring craft cocktails. — Laura Ness, Mercury News, 12 July 2026

Some jokes, including a riff on the history of the Wright Brothers, feel vaguely Dada, as if Marino and Wain had spent a long, happy stretch of aimless days drinking coffee and free-associating. — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 10 July 2026

No, the pasta salad recipe everyone’s looking for is actually a fun riff on another Southern dish. — Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 10 July 2026

These sentences are part of a four-plus-page descriptive riff, one of many passages that lend the novel a teeming, avid opacity. — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 9 July 2026