Riff

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɹɪf/
• Rhymes: -ɪf
• Homophones: Rif

Full definition of riff

Noun

1. A repeated instrumental melody line in a song.
• 2009, November 27, , Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child has 'best guitar riff', 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.
2. A clever or witty remark.
3. A variation on something.
• 2012, The Economist, London Skyline: Tower PowerBoth the Orbit and the Pinnacle are riffs on an idea sketched out in 1917 by Vladimir Tatlin for a monument to international communism.

Verb

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