Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To hold oneself back; forbear: refrained from swearing.
- v. Archaic To restrain or hold back; curb.
- n. A phrase, verse, or group of verses repeated at intervals throughout a song or poem, especially at the end of each stanza.
- n. Music for the refrain of a poem.
- n. A song or melody.
- n. A repeated utterance or theme.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To hold baek; restrain; curb; keep from action.
- To forbear; abstain from; quit.
- To forbear; abstain; keep one's self from action or interference.
- n. A burden or chorus recurring at regular intervals in the course of a song or ballad, usually at the end of each stanza.
- n. The musical phrase or figure to which the burden of a song is set. It has the same relation to the main part of the tune that the burden has to the main text of the song.
- n. An after-taste or -odor; that impression which lingers on the sense: as, the refrain of a Cologne water, of a perfume, of a wine.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To hold back; to restrain; to keep within prescribed bounds; to curb; to govern.
- v. obsolete To abstain from.
- v. To keep one's self from action or interference; to hold aloof; to forbear; to abstain.
- n. The burden of a song; a phrase or verse which recurs at the end of each of the separate stanzas or divisions of a poetic composition.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the part of a song where a soloist is joined by a group of singers
- v. resist doing something
- v. choose not to consume
Etymologies
- 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. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English refreinen, from Old French refrener, to restrain, from Latin refrēnāre : re-, re- + frēnāre, to restrain (from frēnum, bridle, from frendere, to grind; see ghrendh- in Indo-European roots).Middle English refrein, from Old French refrain, alteration of refrait, past participle of refraindre, to break off, repeat, from Vulgar Latin *refrangere, to break off, alteration of Latin refringere; see refract. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It takes a certain sort of film fan to like a Western," said Mr. Cenac, taking a break after the late-evening show, which also featured drinking games (one gulp after anyone gets shot) and a sing-along (the title refrain of Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" after each wanted poster is glimpsed).”
The Wall Street Journal: Giving a Shout-Out to Infamous Films
“There's nothing quite so memorable on the nine tracks of "Summer of Hate," unless you count the title refrain of "I Wanna Kill," which drips with too much smugness to feel like a threat.”
“During hit song "Oh Mandy," Krill's voice warbled the title refrain to aching effect and reminded listeners why it became so infectious.”
“The anthem's refrain translates as: "Grab your weapons, citizens!”
“This is a constant refrain from the sheriff – anyone who seeks to impose any limit on his power is therefore evil and conspiring to thwart his will.”
“Suddenly, and as it were without warning, we are confronted by a fierce and warlike nation, for whom it is a paramount moral obligation to refrain from the participatory heathen cults by which they were surrounded on all sides; for whom moreover precisely that moral obligation is conceived as the very foundation of the race, the very marrow of its being.”
“The “start over” refrain is obnoxious and Dems should be putting out ads with this refrain for the upcoming legislation and elections.”
Think Progress » VIDEO: The GOP’s Solution To Everything — Let’s ‘Start Over’
“And when you prove them, refrain from the icky racial implications you dove right into here.”
“But I am tired and unable to refrain from the snarking here, because this was just sloppy and pathetic.”
mrissa: Use "Unchained Melody" in a love scene next. Please. It'll be great.
“The code he learns in the familiar survival refrain is “to obey the strong and to oppress the weak.””
Le Milieu, Le Moment, La Race: Literary Naturalism in Jack London's White Fang
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘refrain’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
wrath, leaf, belly, prey, death, break, six, nod, dim, end, inn, judge and 1286 more...
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EU Buzz - Lisbon Treaty
All words of the Lisbon Treaty
(Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r...conferral, stateless, person, voting, right, subsidiarity, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and 2614 more...
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If it ain't broke
paint, quaint, maintop, saint, faint, dainty, ain't, unacquainted, the rain in Spain..., ruzuzutainment, 1 Mountain Artill..., Ukraine and 81 more...
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Verbages
puddle, kowtow, tessellate, defalcate, embezzle, enkindle, ablate, frivol, moonlight, tongue-tie, gobble, pettifog and 58 more...
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song & sound
susurrous, calypso, rhapsody, plosive, susurrus, rhotic, caterwaul, plashing, azan, syncopation, aria, neume and 16 more...
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Unfamiliar Words
dank, refrain, hostage, frigid, warden, atrocious, squirm, kinship, riot, counterfeit, stamped, scaffolding and 59 more...
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the beat & the break
words relating to rhythm
syncope, ascensional, sonant, syncopate, assonance, caesura, prosody, modulation, cadence, rhythm, interval, clitter and 34 more...
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magoosh1
aberration, aboveboard, abysmal, ace, affable, aghast, alacrity, ambiguous, ambivalent, ameliorate, amenable, amiable and 215 more...
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ash vocab
flippant, fillip, expiate, explicate, extirpate, facile, florid, fealty, allegiance, fetid, febrile, pert and 134 more...
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harmony of the spheres
tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, subtonic, leading tone, progression, sonata, concerto, allegro and 247 more...
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GRE AWA
escalating, vehement, vehemence, hostility, paparazzi, regime, irrespective, scoop, exaggerated, overblown, unfetter, scrupulous and 272 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 997 more...
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amy's GRE 2012
gimmicks, kowtow, unpretentious, skeptical, cynical, somber, prevaricate, equivocate, requisite, embellish, impregnable, procrastinate and 307 more...
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GRE
high frequent
industrious, feckless, debunk, quintessence, loquacious, obsequious, laconic, plethora, lugubrious, serendipity, facetious, turgid and 261 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for refrain.
chained_bear Yeah, but they just sing the same things over and over again.
*rimshot!* Oct 14, 2008
reesetee What a lyrical country Australia must be. Oct 14, 2008
rolig Refrain:
"Children, please, if you're able,
Do not climb upon the table!
Children, do not make me swear!
Put down that lamp! Get off that chair!" Oct 14, 2008
bilby They're multiplying, since I saw another one yesterday in the furniture shop: 'Please refrain your children from climbing on the furniture'.
A generation of Australian children are growing up refrained. Oct 14, 2008
bilby Hehe! Oct 2, 2008
reesetee I think that means that you sing them off the counter. Oct 1, 2008
bilby There's a handwritten notice in a supermarket around here that reads: "Please refrain your children from climbing on the counter."
Is it a sillyism or can refrain actually be used transitively? Oct 1, 2008
mollusque Could you refrain from singing the refrain? Nov 24, 2007