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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
James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, 27 June 2024
Author, journalist and Baruch College Professor Bridgett M. Davis‘ 1996 feature film is having a welcome reprise in the borough it was set in nearly 30 years ago.
—Karu F. Daniels, New York Daily News, 20 June 2024
John Russell, Peoplemag, 3 July 2024
Ponzio starred in Teen Wolf for six seasons and recently reprised her role as Melissa McCall Paramount+’s Teen Wolf: The Movie revival.
—Denise Petski, Deadline, 3 July 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
Cite this Entry
“Reprise.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reprise. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
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