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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
EW.com, 30 July 2024
Now, in the film’s reprise, three generations of the Deetz family return to Winter River following a family tragedy, per the film’s synopsis.
—Maddie Garfinkle, Peoplemag, 23 July 2024
Jen Juneau, Peoplemag, 8 Aug. 2024
Blanchett reprised the role in 2002’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and 2003’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
—Armando Tinoco, Deadline, 8 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for reprise 
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.
Dictionary Entries Near reprise
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“Reprise.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reprise. Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.
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