DÉJÀ VU Definition & Meaning

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déjà vu

or de·ja vu

[ dey-zhah voo, vyoo; French dey-zha vy ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

Psychology. the illusion of having previously experienced something actually being encountered for the first time.
disagreeable familiarity or sameness:
The new television season had a sense of déjà vu about it—the same old plots and characters with new names.
the sense or feeling of having previously experienced something that really has been encountered before:
It was déjà vu at the bobsled track today as the U.S. team again claimed the top podium positions.

déjà vu

/ ˈdeɪʒæ ˈvuː; deʒa vy /

noun

the experience of perceiving a new situation as if it had occurred before. It is sometimes associated with exhaustion or certain types of mental disorder

déjà vu

The strange sensation that something one is now experiencing has happened before: “I knew I had never been in the house before, but as I walked up the staircase, I got a weird sense of déjà vu.” From French, meaning “already seen.”

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Spelling Note

See resume ².

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of déjà vu¹

First recorded in 1900–05; from French: literally, “already seen”

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of déjà vu¹

from French, literally: already seen

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

For the new coach, and potentially new captain - Knight's future is still uncertain - it is a difficult challenge but one that could go a long way in winning back some fans, but they cannot afford another case of deja vu.

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According to the complaint, Henley organized a birthday party at Déjà Vu for himself in December 2021.

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Veena Sikri, who was India's high commissioner to Bangladesh between 2003 and 2006, describes the growing closeness between Dhaka and Islamabad as a "déjà vu" moment.

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If you’re feeling a sense of deja vu, it might be because after promising in his first term to immediately deliver cheaper and better healthcare for everyone — a vow Trump ultimately struck out on despite Republican control of Congress — he said, “Nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated.”

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On Sunday, when Tadhg Beirne and his replacement Ryan Baird both went off for head injury assessments in the space of five minutes, the Irish coaches must have felt a sense of nightmarish deja vu.

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