See also: Refrain

English edit

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ɹɪˈfɹeɪn/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪn

Etymology 1 edit

From Middle English refreynen, from Anglo-Norman refraindre, Middle French refreindre (from Latin refringere), and Anglo-Norman refrener, Middle French refrener (from Latin refrenare).

Verb edit

refrain (third-person singular simple present refrains, present participle refraining, simple past and past participle refrained)

  1. (transitive, archaic) To hold back, to restrain (someone or something). [from 14th c.]
  2. (reflexive, archaic) To show restraint; to hold oneself back. [from 14th c.]
  3. (transitive, now rare) To repress (a desire, emotion etc.); to check or curb. [from 14th c.]
  4. (intransitive, with preposition "from") To stop oneself from some action or interference; to abstain. [from 15th c.]
  5. (transitive, rare, regional) To abstain from (food or drink). [from 16th c.]
Translations edit
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Etymology 2 edit

From French refrain, from the Old French verb refraindre (to break off, repeat), from Latin re- (back, again) + frangō (break); compare Occitan refranhs (a refrain), refranher (to repeat). See refract and the verb refrain.

Noun edit

 
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Wikipedia

refrain (plural refrains)

  1. The chorus or burden of a song repeated at the end of each verse or stanza.
    • 1949, George Orwell, chapter 1, in Nineteen Eighty-Four:
      For perhaps as much as thirty seconds they kept it up. It was a refrain that was often heard in moments of overwhelming emotion. Partly it was a sort of hymn to the wisdom and majesty of Big Brother, but still more it was an act of self-hypnosis, a deliberate drowning of consciousness by means of rhythmic noise.
  2. (by extension) A much repeated comment, complaint, or saying.
    Synonym: old saw
Translations edit

References edit

Anagrams edit

French edit

Etymology edit

Alteration of Old French refrait, past participle of the verb refraindre (based on the verb's infinitive), itself from Vulgar Latin *refrangere, from Latin refringere.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

refrain m (plural refrains)

  1. refrain, chorus

Derived terms edit

Descendants edit

  • Danish: refræn
  • English: refrain
  • German: Refrain
  • Greek: ρεφρέν (refrén)
  • Spanish: refrán

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Italian edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from French refrain.

Noun edit

refrain m (invariable)

  1. refrain
    Synonym: ritornello

Further reading edit

  • refrain in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams edit