Reprise

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈpɹiːz/

Definitions

1. The repeating of a section in a piece of music or a recurring motif ; the act of renewing or repeating an action, event, or performance
2. A musical phrase or theme performed again after its initial presentation ; a return to a previous activity or event that happens once more
3. The recurrence of a melody or section within a composition ; the revival or repetition of a past action or occurrence

Etymology: The word's central idea is taking something back. Its root is the Old French "reprendre," meaning "to take back" or "to take again," built from Latin "re-" (back, again) and "prendere" (to take). The Old French noun "reprise" carried the sense of a taking back, and English borrowed it in Middle English as a noun, with a verb "reprisen" arriving alongside it. Its earliest English uses were financial and legal. A reprise was an amount deducted or set against a sum, and reprising meant recovering or repaying something. The sense of repeating a performance came later, and a fresh borrowing from Modern French "reprise" brought in the musical meaning of a melody or passage returning within a composition, and the idea of a past action being revived. The modern senses all grow from that core: something taken up again. A musical reprise returns to material already heard, and a theatrical reprise revives a production. The earlier financial sense of setting off or recovering an amount still explains why the word can describe a return to what was once given up.

Synonyms: repeat, reoccurrence, recapitulation, reiteration, return

Antonyms: original, departure, divergence, discontinuation, cessation