
Related to repetition: rhetorical question


1. The act or process or an instance of repeating or being repeated.
2. A recitation or recital, especially of prepared or memorized material.

[Middle English repeticioun, from Old French repeticion, from Latin repetītiō, repetītiōn-, from repetītus, past participle of repetere, to repeat; see repeat.]

rep′e·ti′tion·al adj.


1. the act or an instance of repeating; reiteration
2. a thing, word, action, etc, that is repeated
3. a replica or copy
4. (Law) civil law Scots law the recovery or repayment of money paid or received by mistake, as when the same bill has been paid twice




(ˌrɛp ɪˈtɪʃ ən)

1. the act of repeating; a repeated action, performance, etc.
2. repeated utterance; reiteration.
3. a reproduction or copy.
[1375–1425; late Middle English (< Old French repeticion) < Latin repetītiō=repetī, variant s. of repetere to repeat + -tiō -tion]




  1. Continue unceasingly like a drip from a leaking faucet —Anon
  2. Iteration, like friction, is likely to generate heat instead of progress —George Eliot
  3. Kept on repeating the words like a talisman —Edith Wharton
  4. Life as repetitive as the seasons —J. B. Priestly
  5. Like warmed-up cabbage served at each repast the repetition kills the wretch at last —Juvenal
  6. Monotonous … like a tap with a worn-out washer dripping … in a kitchen sink —Gerald Kersch

    In Kersh’s novel, Repetition, the dripping faucet image describes a character’s voice.

  7. Recited tirelessly as a language record —Marge Piercy

    In Piercy’s poem, A Cold and Married War, the narrator is reciting her sins and errors.

  8. (Rages … which seemed to) recur in cycles, like menstruation — Ursule Molinaro
  9. (Thought) repeated like a lesson —William H. Gass
  10. Repeated like a rhyme —Amy Lowell
  11. Repeats … like an advertisement in neon —Marge Piercy
  12. Repetitive as hieroglyphs —Derek Walcott
  13. (Disembodied and) repetitive as the sea in a shell —Elizabeth Spencer
  14. [The sweep hand of a clock] went around and around like a door-to-door salesman —Raymond Chandler



hark back To revert, to go back, to retrace one’s steps, to return to an earlier subject; to recall, to revive. This expression was originally used in hunting in reference to hounds who returned along the trail in order to pick up a lost scent. It has been used in its extended, figurative sense since the early 19th century.

He has to hark back again to find the scent of his argument. (Robert Louis Stevenson, Familiar Studies of Men and Books, 1882)

harp on To dwell on tediously, to repeat endlessly and monotonously, to belabor, to beat into the ground; also to harp on one or the same string. Ancient harpists reputedly played on only one string in order to demonstrate more fully their skill on the instrument. The phrase appears in Richard Grafton’s A Chronicle at Large and Mere History of the Affairs of England (1568), where it is attributed to Sir Thomas More:

The Cardinal made a countenance to the Lord Haward that he should harp no more upon that string.

The expression and its variants date from the 16th century.

return to one’s muttons To get back to the subject at hand, to return to the point at issue; to stick to the point, to get back on track. Little known in the U.S., this British expression derives from the French Revenons à nos moutons ‘Let’s get back to our sheep.’ The line originated as an often repeated admonition in an early French play by Blanchet, L’Avocat Pathelin, in which the plaintiff continually tried to discredit the defense’s lawyer by claiming he had stolen from him. The judge’s attempts to concentrate on the charge against the defendant, that he had stolen sheep, were marked by addressing the line Revenons à nos moutons to the plaintiff. The phrase was much quoted by Rabelais, which accounts for its wider currency.

ride a hobbyhorse See OBSESSION.

ring the changes To repeat the same thing in different ways; to vary the manner in which one performs a routine task. Originally, ring the changes referred to performing all possible permutations in ringing a set of bells. The expression is commonly applied figuratively to describe changing the order of a series of words, restating a fact or opinion in several different ways, or varying one’s technique in accomplishing an otherwise routine task.

They shall only ring you over a few changes upon three words: crying, Faith, Hope and Charity; Hope, Faith and Charity, and so on. (John Eachard, The Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy and Religion Enquired Into, 1670)

run that by me again A somewhat rude request to have information repeated, usually (but not necessarily) similar in tone to “Come again.” The likelihood is that the expression’s origin lies in the electronic re-runs and replays made commonplace by tape recordings and videotape.



ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.repetition - an event that repeats; "the events today were a repeat of yesterday's"
periodic event, recurrent event - an event that recurs at intervals
sequence - several repetitions of a melodic phrase in different keys
cycle - a periodically repeated sequence of events; "a cycle of reprisal and retaliation"
rematch, replay - something (especially a game) that is played again
recurrence, return - happening again (especially at regular intervals); "the return of spring"
2.repetition - the act of doing or performing again
continuance, continuation - the act of continuing an activity without interruption
echolalia - (psychiatry) mechanical and meaningless repetition of the words of another person (as in schizophrenia)
iteration - doing or saying again; a repeated performance
redundancy - repetition of an act needlessly
reiteration, reduplication - the act of repeating over and again (or an instance thereof)
copying - an act of copying
action replay, instant replay, replay - the immediate rebroadcast of some action (especially sports action) that has been recorded on videotape
renewal - the act of renewing
replication - the repetition of an experiment in order to test the validity of its conclusion; "scientists will not believe an experimental result until they have seen at least one replication"
3.repetition - the repeated use of the same word or word pattern as a rhetorical device
anadiplosis, reduplication - repetition of the final words of a sentence or line at the beginning of the next
epanalepsis - repetition after intervening words
epanodos - repetition of a group of words in reverse order
epiphora, epistrophe - repetition of the ends of two or more successive sentences, verses, etc.
gemination - the doubling of a word or phrase (as for rhetorical effect)
ploce - (rhetoric) repetition to gain special emphasis or extend meaning
polyptoton - repetition of a word in a different case or inflection in the same sentence; "My own heart's heart"
epanaphora, anaphora - repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses
anaphora - using a pronoun or similar word instead of repeating a word used earlier


1. recurrence, repeating, reappearance, duplication, echo He wants to avoid repetition of the confusion.
2. repeating, redundancy, replication, duplication, restatement, iteration, reiteration, tautology, recapitulation, repetitiousness He could have cut much of the repetition and saved pages.


1. The act or process of repeating:
2. Imitative reproduction, as of the style of another:


[ˌrepɪˈtɪʃən] Nrepetición f


[ˌrɛpɪˈtɪʃən] n
[event] → répétition f
(saying something again)répétition f
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005


nWiederholung f; there are six repetitions of the patterndas Muster wiederholt sich sechsmal


[ˌrɛpɪˈtɪʃn] nripetizione f
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995


(rəˈpiːt) verb
reˈpeated adjective
reˈpeatedly adverb
many times. I've asked him for it repeatedly.
repetition (repəˈtiʃən) noun
(an) act of repeating.
repetitive (rəˈpetətiv) adjective
reˈpetitively adverb
reˈpetitiveness noun
repeat oneself

to repeat (not repeat again) the lessons.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.


n repetición f
References in classic literature ?
Mr Quilp was certainly entertaining himself with vocal exercise, but it was rather a kind of chant than a song; being a monotonous repetition of one sentence in a very rapid manner, with a long stress upon the last word, which he swelled into a dismal roar.
I am told that in a German concert or opera, they hardly ever encore a song; that though they may be dying to hear it again, their good breeding usually preserves them against requiring the repetition.
You will find no tedium of repetition in all their poetry, no thin vein of thought beaten out over endless pages.
In that case we may fairly hope that a repetition of the dose will lead, in a greater or lesser degree, to a repetition of the result.