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
Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2025
Fans will get to see Ariana Grande's take on the number in a reprise in Wicked: For Good, which hits theaters on Nov. 21, but for now, fans can watch Erivo's version on Peacock, where Wicked is currently streaming.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 22 Mar. 2025
Armando Tinoco, Deadline, 7 Apr. 2025
In addition to reprising Marcus in all three Bad Boys sequels, he's appeared in films like Death at a Funeral (2010), The Beach Bum (2019) and Mindcage (2022) and lent his voice for animated features such as Open Season (2006) and Sneaks (2025).
—Hanna Flanagan, People.com, 7 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 14 Apr. 2025.
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