riff

plural riffs

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

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

   1 more example

   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.

   2009 November 27, “Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child has 'best guitar riff'”, in BBC

2. A clever or witty remark.

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

   2015 September 27, “Pope Francis delivers off-the-cuff riff on family life”, in USA Today

3. A variation on something.

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

   2012, The Economist, London Skyline: Tower Power

   1 more example

   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.

   2025 July 16, David Ingram, “Musk's Grok 'companions' include a flirty anime character and an anti-religion panda”, in NBC News

4. A spoof.

   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.

   2014 June 26, A. A. Dowd, “Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler Spoof Rom-com Clichés in They Came Together”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 07 Dec 2017

present singular third person riffs · participle present riffing · participle past riffed · past riffed

1. To improvise in the performance or practice of an art, especially by expanding on or making novel use of traditional themes.

   He riffed an upward arpeggio and in a smooth, slightly neutered baritone began singing “Baby Face.”

   2014, Edward Stewart, Privileged Lives, →ISBN

   4 more examples

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

   2006, Janet Tashjian, Fault Line: A Novel, →ISBN

   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.

   2011, Edward Glaeser, Triumph of the City, →ISBN

   For Holyoake a strategic advantage of his newly coined label was the way it riffed on the term 'secular' in the Western Christian imaginary.

   2014, Johann P. Arnason, Religion and Politics: European and Global Perspectives, →ISBN, page 59

   In particular, Ralph Breaks The Internet riffs a lot on its enormous parent company, from that princess bit to the Sterling Holloway tone that new good-luck charm Alan Tudyk brings to his vocal performance to a goof on the de facto parenting advice that’s at the heart of so many Pixar movies.

   2018 November 14, Jesse Hassenger, “Disney Goes Viral with an Ambitious, Overstuffed Wreck-It Ralph Sequel”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 21 Nov 2019

2. To riffle.

   He was gracious enough to thank her, and briefly riffed through the pages before putting it in his briefcase.

   2012, Jane Roberts, Triple Challenge: '69 to '70, →ISBN, page 173

   2 more examples

   He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a wellworn deck of cards. He hated Saturday duty. He cut the deck and riffed the two halves together.

   2010, Michael Flynn, In the Country of the Blind, →ISBN

   The man reached inside a pocket of the black broadcloth coat he'd draped over the back of his chair and withdrew a deck of cards, which he fanned in one hand, then bent back and riffed rapidly into the palm of his other.

   2014, Miles Swarthout, The Last Shootist, →ISBN

3. To tell jokes over a movie or similar performance.

   A bad sci-fi movie is often ludicrous and silly and ripe for riffing. A bad comedy is usually just dull.

   2015 January 27, Chris Morgan, The Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000: Twelve Classic Episodes and the Movies They Lampoon, McFarland, →ISBN, page 34

   1 more example

   Most MSTers confine their "riffing" to original fan fiction rather than scripts from corporate-owned entertainment properties, which renders such twice-removed MSTing somewhat toothless: the cannibalizing parody of a pastiche.

   2014 January 10, Robert G. Weiner, Shelley E. Barba, In the Peanut Gallery with Mystery Science Theater 3000: Essays on Film, Fandom, Technology and the Culture of Riffing, McFarland, →ISBN, page 126

   Synonyms: MST

plural riffs

1. archaicanatomyThe belly; the bowels.

1. alternativeAlternative form of Rif (“mountains in Morocco”).

1. abbreviationacronymcomputingAcronym of Resource Interchange File Format.