Riff

/ɹɪf/ · noun

Meaning

A repeated melody line in a song, usually instrumental but sometimes vocal..

Definitions by Sense

1. A repeated melody line in a song, usually instrumental but sometimes vocal.
2. A clever or witty remark.
3. A variation on something.
4. A spoof.
5. To improvise in the performance or practice of an art, especially by expanding on or making novel use of traditional themes.
6. To riffle.
7. To tell jokes over a movie or similar performance.
8. (anatomy, archaic) The belly; the bowels.

Example Sentences

Listen to one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time!

Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child has been named the greatest guitar riff of all time, 41 years after it was recorded, in a poll by website Music Radar.

Pope Francis delivers off-the-cuff riff on family life

Both the Orbit and the Pinnacle are riffs on an idea sketched out in 1917 by Vladimir Tatlin for a monument to international communism.

Grok’s companions are a riff on the idea of AI assistants or agents, which some people use for friendship or romance in place of or in addition to human partners.

The creative team has experience with spoofing: Both [Paul] Rudd and [Amy] Poehler had parts in [David] Wain’s Wet Hot American Summer, a hysterically irreverent riff on ’80s summer-camp comedies.

She riffed on the Olympic judges, the bobsled team, then ad-libbed with a woman drinking a martini at the front table.

They were great architects deeply enmeshed in an urban chain of innovation; Wright riffed on Sullivan's idea of form following function, and Sullivan riffed on Jenney, and Jenney relied on the fireproofing innovations of Peter B. Wight.

Synonyms for riff

Antonyms for riff

Related Words

Word Forms

• riffs
• riffing
• riffed

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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