déjà vu

plural déjà vus · alternative deja vu · alternative dejavu

1. uncountableusuallyThe subjective, unexpected feeling of having experienced something before, especially when that is not the case.

   He had to get back. Soon. All these déjà vus were killing him.

   2005, Lynn Kurland, chapter 27, in Dreams of Stardust, New York, N.Y.: Jove Books, →ISBN, page 271

   2 more examples

   Why did some déjà vus pattern or pulse at certain peak moments and not others?

   1996, José Argüelles, “The Secret Time Sharers and the Discovery of the Pulsar Code”, in The Arcturus Probe: Tales and Reports of an Ongoing Investigation, Flagstaff, Ariz.: Light Technology Publishing, →ISBN, part one (Launching the Probe), page 11

   A few times she mentioned that she’d been having constant déjà vus. She hoped it wasn’t a symptom of a tumor or early-onset dementia.

   2008, Francine Prose, chapter 4, in Goldengrove: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: HarperLuxe, →ISBN, page 83

2. uncountableusuallyLoosely or humorously, anything one has done before or is being repeated.

   Have I done this before? Talk about déjà vu.

present singular third person déjà vues · participle present déjà vuing · participle past déjà vued · past déjà vued · alternative deja vu · alternative dejavu

1. colloquialintransitiveTo experience déjà vu; to see (something) as though having seen it before.

   Still deja vuing, I said, “Jinx. You owe me a Coke.”

   2008, Darren Lamere, Eerily Familiar

   1 more example

   Trees looked familiar, moments of landscape were perfectly déjà-vued.

   2011, Neil Gaiman, American Gods (Tenth Anniversary Edition), William Morrow 2011, p. 139